# Is this "Media Bias" poster directed at Jews? What is its origin? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 25, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318 "2011-07-25T22:13:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/1 "2011-07-25T22:13:50Z")
A local blogger is using [this ‘media bias’ poster](http://afrocityblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/media-bias1.jpg) to illustrate an article complain about media bias. The look of the person in the poster makes me think this was intend (originally) as a not so subtle swipe against Jewish media influence. Does anyone know the origin of this poster. It looks (guessing) like it was done between 1930-1950 or so. What is its origin? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/2 "2011-07-25T22:24:03Z")
I don’t know the origin of it, but it doesn’t strike me as particularly anti-semitic, it just seems like a general warning against horizontal integration of print media. However, if you were to find that all of the publications named in the cartoon had Jewish owners at the time of its creation you might be onto something. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/3 "2011-07-25T22:48:26Z")
Like **An Gadaí** , i don’t see much in the way of anti-semitism here. The date is a bit hard to pin down. It certainly looks like something that might have been produced around WWII, or in the couple of decades after. There are some more specific issues, though. On the one hand, some evidence suggests that it must be from after 1942. One of the papers in the poster is the _San Francisco Times_, and according to the [Library of Congress Historic American Newspapers](http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn95062579/) database, the _SF Times_ began publication in June, 1942. On the other hand, another paper in the poster is the _New York Herald_, and according to the [Library of Congress](http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/titles/;start=N;page=64), there was no paper of that name published after the 1920s. There was, however, a _New York Herald Tribune_ published until the 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/4 "2011-07-25T23:20:48Z")
Why does he have the Obama logo on his shirt? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/5 "2011-07-25T23:25:21Z")
> [@cuauhtemoc](#): > > Why does he have the Obama logo on his shirt? Good catch. I didn’t notice that. What we could have here is simply a modern poster fashioned to look like an older piece of artwork. Or, we could have an older poster that has been modified. Any of this would be easy enough to do. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/6 "2011-07-25T23:32:15Z")
That’s an Obama logo? Hard to tell. When did the specific term ‘media bias’ come into use? It doesn’t seem very 1920s to me, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Orr\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ee59a6/32.png) [@Orr\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orr_G)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/7 "2011-07-25T23:32:52Z")
I’m not sure, but I think that guy’s supposed to look like George Soros. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/8 "2011-07-25T23:37:33Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Or, we could have an older poster that has been modified. I’m betting this. There are lots of tiny details (how the pipe smoke is drawn, the particular way that hatching is used for shading) that used to be common and now aren’t. If it’s a contemporary drawing it’s been done by someone with an obsessive desire to replicate an old-fashioned drawing style. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/9 "2011-07-26T00:39:25Z")
a so-called jewish-looking man is a non-entity. funny thing is the only jews who look like that are found in the media. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/10 "2011-07-26T13:05:04Z")
You’d have to know the context to get a better handle on the biases of the cartoonist/publisher. As regards anti-Semitism, all you have at this point is the long-running meme of They Control The Media, and the mildly suggestive hooked nose. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/11 "2011-07-26T13:20:14Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > I’m betting this. There are lots of tiny details (how the pipe smoke is drawn, the particular way that hatching is used for shading) that used to be common and now aren’t. If it’s a contemporary drawing it’s been done by someone with an obsessive desire to replicate an old-fashioned drawing style. I, too, am going with modified old work or deliberate homage. And **Sunspace** , “media bias” would be a relatively recent usage – pre-60s you’d just refer to “the Press” IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![fbslp27](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@fbslp27](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fbslp27)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/12 "2011-12-16T17:51:51Z")
Since this is high in Google results for the photo, thought I’d chime in and point out that it is indeed a [Nazi-era illustration that is Antisemitic](http://mediamatters.org/blog/201112150019), but the star of David has been edited out. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/13 "2011-12-16T20:29:45Z")
> [@fbslp27](#): > > Since this is high in Google results for the photo, thought I’d chime in and point out that it is indeed a [Nazi-era illustration that is Antisemitic](http://mediamatters.org/blog/201112150019), but the star of David has been edited out. And Andrew Breitbart is involved! What a surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/14 "2011-12-16T20:45:04Z")
Nice. Anyone who speaks German who can translate the original caption? I’m just curious. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/15 "2011-12-16T21:47:44Z")
> [@fbslp27](#): > > Since this is high in Google results for the photo, thought I’d chime in and point out that it is indeed a [Nazi-era illustration that is Antisemitic](http://mediamatters.org/blog/201112150019), but the star of David has been edited out. And he got a slight nose job too, it appears. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/16 "2011-12-16T21:51:01Z")
The nose thing is a Jewish stereotype, so yes, on a certain level it has anti-Jewish overtones. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-media-bias-poster-directed-at-jews-what-is-its-origin/590318/17 "2011-12-16T22:03:42Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > Nice. > > Anyone who speaks German who can translate the original caption? I’m just curious. “Der Herr der U.S.A.-Meinung” = The leader of U.S.A. opinion “Ein Informationsministerium fuer U.S.A. - Wie heisst? - A neuer Name fuer die alte Sache” = An information ministry for the U.S.A. - What is it? - A new name for the old thing.