At the time of the article, doctors had not elaborated much on Hillary’s blood clot, and her health was questionable. The article that ran this picture as the headline, also ran a bad picture of Chelsea (and I thought the poor girl was past the point of bad pictures) “visibly anguished.”
I was curious to see what the other news medias--large and small--were running. I found this gem at The Atlantic Wire under the headline “Back in the Hospital with a Blood Clot, Hillary Clinton Is Not Well.”
The Washington Post took a slightly different approach with a photo from an odd angle.
The New York Times took an even different approach. They were the first to include a picture of Hillary smiling.
The Atlantic Wire is quick to announce the news that “Hillary Clinton’s Blood Clot Is Between Her Brain and Skull, but She’s OK” with an image of an upbeat Hillary.
The Atlantic Wire makes the most drastic change. The article title doesn’t reassure you that Hillary will recover--you have to read the full article to discover that tidbit of information. However, they remind their viewers that Hillary is a fighter.
The Washington Post lets their readers know the clot is in her skull in their latest article. They also use an image that reassures you.
Even the New York Times, in their subtle picture selection, reassures you Hillary will make a full recovery. Yes, the article title “Doctors Expect Clinton to Recover Fully From Blood Clot Near Brain” says it explicitly; however, the site has also provided a photo that encourages confidence in her recovery.
Blood clots always make us fear the worst, and each of the news images featured here do an excellent job of evoking the appropriate fear and relief in their viewer. Granted, this is just a quick, superficial look at the visuals. There is much I am leaving out (and purposely). Visual rhetoric is a rich area of study, and Hillary Clinton has been an excellent visual rhetoric study over the past years. I’m curious to follow this story to see how the news sites continue to portray Hillary’s recovery in images. There is no doubt that images like these and the carefully worded article titles go a long way to let the headline-reader know immediately how to react to the news. Still not sure there’s all that much weight in the images? Imagine any of these stories headlined with this image.