Images That Injure

Newspaper Research Journal, Spring 1998 by Young, Lisa

Images That Injure by Paul Martin Lester, editor (Westport, Conn: Praeger Publishers, 1996, $59.95 ($19.95 paper), 282 pp.

Images That Injure provides an overview of some common pictorial stereotypes presented in the mass media while pointing out how such presentations can be painful. Edited by Paul Martin Lester, associate professor of communications at California State University, Fullerton, Images That Injure combines the chapters of 36 contributors into a comprehensive volume exploring the nature and impact of images of such groups as Arab Americans, people with physical disabilities, children, homosexuals and the elderly. Additional chapters analyze more subtle stereotypes such as those associated with people in certain occupations, including lawyers, teachers and police officers.

While we may be familiar with some of the more common stereotypes used in the mass media, this book informs us about harmful stereotypes that are often overlooked. Religious believers, if pictured at all, are usually associated with fringe groups or linked to ambiguous sacred symbols, which become substitutes for text explaining the complexities of religion. It is in uncovering dozens of these subtle stereotypes that Images That Injure proves its worth. While we may interpret an image of a Native American performing a ritual in traditional dress as a rich conveyance of reservation life, the Sioux may react conversely, commenting that they are only pictured in the context of hanging onto the past. Such disparities in connotation underscore the premise that our interpretations of photographs function as reflections of our gender, racial and ethnic identity, socioeconomic class and age, to name just a few factors. Simply put, a working-class teenage girl from Belfast will read an image much differently than an affluent 65-year-old man living in New England.

The many short chapters allow this book to provide a broad glimpse of how a variety of groups are portrayed. Still, a book discussing images in such depth should offer more visual examples. Mere descriptions of harmful advertisements or photographs cannot rival the impact of seeing the image firsthand. Ironically, these worded descriptions add yet another layer of interpretation and subjectivity to the mix. Readers may be more inclined to empathize with stereotyped groups if they can view the debated pictorials themselves.

Images That Injure does not leave us desperately wondering if it will ever be possible to make amends. Stereotyping, one of the authors contends, often results from lazy journalists who are too rushed to look deeply into an issue. We need to examine the human side of issues, he writes, describing actual events as they occur, not as we expect them to unfold. Positive images of individuals should be presented at least as often as the usual pictures showing young criminals being handcuffed by police officers. Coming across positive images is more difficult because it requires journalists to look beyond the usual sources for news--the police beat, the courts, etc. Images that challenge our assumptions cause us to think. These are the pictures we ought to be looking for in our daily routines.

Lisa Young is a graduate student in the School of Journalism at Ohio University.