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Photojournalism

Thomas Jones · The Times and the Far Right

There's a story in the Times about the far-right islamophobic organisation of British ex-football hooligans who call themselves Casuals United. The piece ticks the box for evenhandedness, ending with a quote from a spokesman for United Against Fascism, though it's not clear why the Casuals deserve a whole page about them in a national 'quality' daily. Online, the piece is illustrated with a portrait of the group's leader in a heroic pose, backlit and shot from below, and a picture of the Casuals marching through Birmingham, confrontational but not – yet – violent. In the print edition, there is a third photograph, captioned: 'The protest led to violence and police made about 30 arrests.' It shows dark-skinned boys kicking a white man on the ground. The text may do it's best to appear impartial, but the pictures don't even begin to try.