Thread by @ReadingThePix

1 A photographic look at Pence @VP visit to 2 TX detention centers w 7 #GOP senators. A thread about photo access and visual framing in an age of hate and hysteria. The entourage facing US handiwork without game faces. (screenshot: @Reuters)

2 Let's be mindful of goal: to counteract shocking pix from last 2 urgent @DHSOIG (random) inspection visual reports, the @HispanicCaucus pix from Clint, & #BorderPatrol FB scandal. Paradoxically, aim is to show previous scenes inaccurate, yet still "tough stuff" (& blame Dems).

3 One of goals of @VP trip was to insulate/defend #BorderPatrol from reports about its almost 10k member private racially/sexually toxic FB group. Did address this in context of border visit day before in San Diego in response to q's. Via @joshdawsey @washingtonpost pool report.

4 #Pence no stranger to border, or @VP photo ops touting #BorderPatrol. Was in #Nogales recently as April to tout BP, plus Air and Marine ops. Pic from this @CPB Flickr album. buff.ly/2loYEU5

5 Despite concerning #BorderPatrol abuses, Administration PR, social media bends over backwards to fete agents/enforcement. No mention of FB scandal, even/especially in 30 min round table with BP at McAllen. (screenshot @VP/Twitter)

6 Re pix at recently expanded #Donna holding center, Pence photos largely show children alone. (Strictly on visual level, another form of family separation). Like props (could have met w families) most shots show entourage approaching unwitting children from behind. (@VP/Twitter)

7 Another shot w kids. #Pence hovering, others from behind. Note #GOP entourage all white males, except for Sen @MarshaBlackburn (top l) and omnipresent #KarenPence @SecondLady in olive, who seems hard to differentiate in many pix from BP officer. (Photo: @VP)

8 @senrobportman the point man here because he speaks Spanish. Privacy convention of blurring faces seems almost odd, btw, in light of the human rights violations. (Photo: @VP)

9 Perhaps the most heavy-handed photo from #Pence @VP Twitter, #Donna detention center. Box counters allegations that refugee detainees don't have toothbrushes or toothpaste. #immigration

10 Jumping ahead for a moment, they may have toothpaste in boxes at Donna family/child holding center but, in video from #McAllen, the men in cages, detainees gesture to reporters they haven't been able to brush their teeth. (screenshot via @Reuters)

11 Don't know who/# of photogs govt had. (WH rarely credits pix.) Media pool had just one, Veronica Cardenas of @ReutersPictures. Reuters did 35 pix, only 7 from cages, majority more stock. Was also video, but stills indelible. Highlights #visualcensorship, lack of media access.

@reuterspictures 12/ Donna shots from @Reuters starker than govt (propaganda) pix, reveal scenes with children more impersonal, more staged. Even more *captive audience,* #GOP Senators, #Pence step in front of their TV show. Older kids ignored. 📷 @veronicagcarde1 @reuterspictures

@reuterspictures @Reuters @veronicagcarde1 13/ Another #Donna shot from Reuters of the #GOP Senators, #Pence with the children. Here you see moms (assume they are moms), and they are a lot more protective--and guarded (in both senses of the word.) 📷 @veronicagcarde1 @reuterspictures

@reuterspictures @Reuters @veronicagcarde1 14/ Sad, lonely pic of kids under the guard tower, rooms where lights always on. Sight lines of #Pence pix at #Donna (as you see previously) scrupulously avoided them. Suddenly, looks like detention. 📷 @veronicagcarde1 @reuterspictures

@reuterspictures @Reuters @veronicagcarde1 15/ More from the sole media #photographer. #Donna facility newer, cleaner, more roomy, but telltale sign that also didn't appear in the @VP frames: kids caked in mud. 📷 @veronicagcarde1 @reuterspictures

@reuterspictures @Reuters @veronicagcarde1 @VP 16/ On to #McAllen. Upon arrival, #Pence, senators held roundtable to vent/justify and (post still another pic to) fete #borderpatrol. Per pool report, this took up 30 min of 3.5 hr 2 sight visit. Though #FB not mentioned, #Pence feed can't show enough good agents. (📷@VP)

@reuterspictures @Reuters @veronicagcarde1 @VP 17/ Per @jdawsey1 pool report, entourage visited #McAllen cages for 90 seconds. Pence insisted on going in w press cameras against WH and Secret Service opposition. Report filled w other grim details contradicting govt. narratives.

@reuterspictures @Reuters @veronicagcarde1 @VP @jdawsey1 18/ Several of the @Reuters pix from the cages went for empathy or were more artful when the situation, we feel, called for more graphic treatment. Although hard to manage in 90 seconds. Photo: 📷@veronicagcarde1 @reuterspictures

@reuterspictures @Reuters @veronicagcarde1 @VP @jdawsey1 19/ Most disturbing scenes come from (screengrabs of) video. For example, reporters told of strong stench in the air. Wouldn't know it from #Pence, senators, but one guy was using sweatshirt to cover his nose. Unless he was editorializing. (Via @Reuters)

@reuterspictures @Reuters @veronicagcarde1 @VP @jdawsey1 20/ If you look more carefully, you can see how nervous #BorderPatrol and @SecretService personnel were, and how many agents were flanking @VP, senators. Here see guard tower in the background. Audacious for #Pence to force his way in there. (Video: @Reuters)

@reuterspictures @Reuters @veronicagcarde1 @VP @jdawsey1 @SecretService 21/ When you look at the video in frames, the men that look like 400 cattle in a pen or (brown) scary mass, become imminently relatability. It's what you get from still photos, why #photography effective, and why #visualcensorship critical to the mission. (Video: @Reuters)

@reuterspictures @Reuters @veronicagcarde1 @VP @jdawsey1 @SecretService 22/ Also from individual frames, you can tell these men knew this was a significant moment. Echoing cross-armed #Pence, they're doing some sizing up, too. #Dignity (Video: @Reuters)

@reuterspictures @Reuters @veronicagcarde1 @VP @jdawsey1 @SecretService 23/ Interesting to see what the screenshots have to say, right? Back to @reuters and the cages, here a solid documentary pic illustrating: No cots or room. Mylar hell. Day=night. But still sort of arty. You want to consider these things regardless of source. 📷@veronicagcarde1

@reuterspictures @Reuters @veronicagcarde1 @VP @jdawsey1 @SecretService 24/ By the way, with @KellyannePolls on the trip, there was still plenty of MAGA in the air. (End Thread.)

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