{"id":5348,"date":"2024-11-21T15:17:46","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T14:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/?p=5348"},"modified":"2024-11-21T15:17:46","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T14:17:46","slug":"the-subtle-and-frightening-power-of-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2024\/11\/21\/the-subtle-and-frightening-power-of-images\/","title":{"rendered":"The Subtle and Frightening Power of Images"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is often said that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and a recent study on newspaper readers in the United States seems to confirm this. The photos accompanying articles influence how readers perceive various topics, whether it\u2019s police budgets or pandemic management. Even Joe Biden fell victim to the power of images.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We live in an era where visual information has become central. Media outlets, fully aware of the importance of images, use them strategically to capture the public’s attention. However, images are not neutral: they convey messages, suggest interpretations, and often reflect the ideological stance of those publishing them. In many cases, the images used in the media don\u2019t just accompany the news\u2014they are the primary means of communication, particularly in a context where many users share articles based solely on the preview, without reading the full content.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Is Bias in the Media Context?<\/b><\/p>\n

In a recent study, I explored the power of images in the media, showing how they can subtly but effectively manipulate public opinion. News outlets, as the study shows, select cover images that reflect their political preferences. Consequently, liberal outlets (in the United States, those on the left) and conservative outlets adopt systematically different visual languages. This “visual bias” in media coverage, often less obvious than biases in written text, influences how readers form opinions on the topics being reported. This reinforces the polarisation of public opinion on various political issues. Through both words and images, people receive very different perspectives, deepening divisions.<\/span><\/p>\n

But what exactly is bias? The term refers to a systematic prejudice or inclination that favours a particular view, opinion, or interpretation over others. In the media, bias can manifest in both the text and the images used, influencing how a topic is presented to the public. Visual bias specifically refers to the use of images that steer the reader’s perception toward a certain interpretation, often aligned with the ideological stance of the news outlet. This phenomenon can be particularly insidious because images are processed quickly by the human brain, leaving an immediate and often subconscious impact.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Study on the Power of Visual Language<\/b><\/p>\n

The U.S. media landscape provides a useful case study on this topic. For the study, 300,000 cover images from news articles published in 2020 by major U.S. media outlets were analysed. By applying computer vision algorithms to extract information about the content of these images (such as the subjects and objects depicted, their visual attributes, or the contextual aspects of each photo), it was possible to categorise the different images. This information was then used to form a “visual vocabulary,” which allowed for the analysis of the non-verbal language used by different news sources. The process revealed the diversity of visual jargon employed by liberal and conservative outlets, with their visual language appearing politically divided, particularly on topics such as politics, security, and health.<\/span><\/p>\n

To examine the effects of partisan visual language on readers\u2019 opinions, the research also included an experiment. A nationally representative sample of 2,000 U.S. residents was exposed to news on various topics and asked to express their opinions, similar to a regular opinion poll. While the written content (including headlines and subtitles) was identical for all participants, the cover image accompanying each article was randomly varied among three alternatives: one resembling the visual language of a Republican-leaning news source, one with a Democratic bias, and one from a politically neutral source. This meant the text remained the same, but the images varied according to political categories.<\/span><\/p>\n

The experiment revealed that changing the images in the articles influenced participants’ opinions on subjects like politics, the economy, security, and public health. In fact, readers who viewed stories illustrated with an image carrying a Republican bias expressed, on average, significantly more conservative opinions compared to those who saw images with a Democratic bias, despite reading the same text. Even with identical words, a reader’s opinion could be shaped by the images.<\/span><\/p>\n

These differences in opinion are quantifiable. For instance, compared to Republican-leaning readers, Democratic-leaning participants favoured much lower budgets for police forces (with a difference of $45 billion), were more dissatisfied with pandemic management during the Trump administration, were more confident in lower future inflation, and were more optimistic about Joe Biden’s ability to revive the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal. These are extremely complex issues, so it is remarkable that simply changing the image accompanying an article can influence someone\u2019s stance on such matters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Confirmation of One\u2019s Own Opinions<\/b><\/p>\n

The study also identified the presence of “confirmation bias”: participants reacted more strongly to images aligned with their pre-existing political views. For example, Republican participants who viewed Republican-leaning images expressed more extreme opinions than those exposed to Democratic-leaning images. Similarly, Democratic participants reacted more strongly to Democratic-leaning images.<\/span><\/p>\n

These findings suggest that cover images in news articles are more powerful in reinforcing existing beliefs than in promoting alternative viewpoints. As a result, visual bias in media coverage is likely contributing to increased political division and polarisation. The effect is amplified when people receive their news exclusively from ideologically aligned sources, as often happens when content is recommended by social media algorithms.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an era of growing political polarisation, promoting greater awareness of the visual impact of media is crucial to fostering a more balanced and informed public debate. Practically speaking, this means educating the public to critically interpret images, recognising that each one carries a message that may be influenced by biases and editorial choices. Media literacy campaigns can help the public learn how to decode images, assess sources, and identify visual biases. Schools and universities can play a key role by integrating critical media analysis courses into their curricula.<\/span><\/p>\n

Media organisations, for their part, should adopt more transparent practices in image selection, ensuring that captions clarify the context and intent behind the visual choices. Readers, meanwhile, can adopt a more sceptical and reflective approach, avoiding the temptation to draw hasty conclusions based solely on what they see.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Importance of Images in Raising Questions About Joe Biden’s Health<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Note: The first image shows U.S. President Joe Biden giving a thumbs-up to paratroopers during the G7 in Italy. The second image, published by newspapers, was cropped to exclude the paratrooper, creating the impression that the president was gesturing into the air, contributing to narratives about his age and inability to govern for a second term. This example shows how image manipulation can drastically alter the perception of an event or circumstance. These visual portrayals likely contributed to changing public perception and shifts within the American Democratic Party, leading to Biden being replaced on the Democratic ticket for the 2024 U.S. presidential election.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: The Telegraph.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bio<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Giulia Caprini is a fellow at Nuffield College and a researcher at the Department of Economics at the University of Oxford, where she teaches quantitative methods for data analysis. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics in 2022 from the European University Institute in Florence.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article is inspired by an article by Giulia Caprini published on the blog “LaFonte: Economics Research from the EUI” (<\/span><\/i>https:\/\/lafonte.eui.eu\/<\/span><\/i><\/a>) titled “The Power of Pictures: Visual Bias in the News.”<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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