The Associated Press used a photo of Ted Cruz that has many conservatives outraged. The photo of Cruz with a gun pointing to his head was clearly meant to be inflammatory to the Texas Senator and Presidential candidate.
While the main stream media is inclined to use gratuitous pictures of President Obama with halos, the intentions of this picture of Cruz are not so subtle. In this day when an overly sensitive population is requiring trigger warnings for anything some might find violent or offensive, the AP put a gun to a Presidential candidate’s head in an oddly angled photograph.
The press was quick to blame Sarah Palin when Gabi Giffords was shot because of a graphic she used with Giffords’ Congressional District in the crosshairs, as it was a targeted race. Of course the shooter, Jared Lee Loughner’s intentions were not motivated by Palin.
It is hard to imagine a similar image of Hillary Clinton being promoted by the Associated Press. The liberals would have clutched their pearls, deeming to be violent and misogynistic. But apparently, Ted Cruz is fair game.
Conservatives lit up Twitter pointing to the obvious bias by the photographer and the editor who chose the picture.
@ThePoliticalHat @AP @tedcruz As a photographer, that is not a normal angle from which to take a picture UNLESS you're trying to do this.
— Life by the Creek (@lifebythecreek) June 22, 2015
.@ThePoliticalHat @redsteeze @AP @tedcruz We get 8 years of Obama halos, and this is what ProgMedia does to Cruz. pic.twitter.com/qK9yTLdiDA
— John Rivers (@JohnRiversToo) June 22, 2015
Did @AP suggest @tedcruz b assassinated? AP Photographer deliberately frames picture gun pointed @ Senator Cruz head pic.twitter.com/L0KiiJ8vIL
— An American Veteran (@AmericanVet3) June 22, 2015
Politico has reported that the Associated Press has issued a statement claiming that there was no maliciousness intended with this photo.
“Presidential candidate Ted Cruz,” Paul Colford, Associated Press Vice President & Director of Media Relations, said, “was shown in a series of 14 photos taken by an Associated Press photographer at a ‘Celebrate the 2nd Amendment’ event Saturday afternoon, held at a shooting range in Johnston, Iowa. Five of the photos published by AP included images of guns seen on a wall in the background so that it appeared that a pistol was pointed at Senator Cruz’s head.
“The images were not intended to portray Senator Cruz in a negative light,” Colford said.
What do you believe were the Associated Press’ intentions?