Newseum hosted a full-day symposium titled “Examining Opinion and Bias in the News: The Grant Howell Legacy Symposium” that explored the perceptions and realities of bias in news coverage.

The second afternoon panel, moderated by Mr. Sparrow, examined “What You See and What You Think: Reflecting on the Power of Images.” Panelists talked about the state of photojournalism and recent stories including the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita along the Gulf Coast, operations and life in Iraq, and other current events. Among the issues they addressed were the power of the visual image, alternative sources of still and video images, the impact of the Internet on the distribution of visual images, and the editorial content of the image. They also talked about the differing interpretations of visual images by the consumer and provider’s race, the impact of photo placement and video editing, and opinions generated by visual images. Following the panel, participants responded to questions and comments from members of the audience.

Several of the still images and video from various stories were shown as examples.