NBC Misleads Public With A Picture Of The Wrong Book

When I write these articles, one of the things I have to do is find a thumbnail picture to go with the article for circulation. It’s easy when there’s a video featured in the article because I can just grab a picture from that. But sometimes I have to search for a picture that is relevant to the content of the article. But one thing I try to always do is accurately represent the content of the article in the picture I choose because even just the thumbnail picture can influence a potential reader’s perspective on the subject. And NBC knows this.

This week, NBC wrote an article titled, “Parents file a police report after teacher offers LGBTQ-themed book to her middle schoolers.” Their Twitter tease stated, “An Illinois teacher offered her middle schoolers a bestselling LGBTQ-themed book. Parents filed a police report over her book choice.” The cover picture they used is of a sweet and joyful-looking woman holding a book called “Igniting Social Action in the ELA Classroom.” NBC clearly intended to lead you to assume that this seemingly benign book and seemingly sweet and joyful teacher are the ones in question. But you would be wrong. At least about the book.

The book she actually offered to her middle schoolers was titled “This Book Is Gay,” which is basically a how-to book teaching kids about all manner of sexual positions, kinks, and fetishes, complete with graphic pictures. It also includes step-by-step instructions for using dating and sex apps, as well as engaging in these various sex acts, kinks, and fetishes. The book is extremely controversial and considered by many to be both pornographic and otherwise inappropriate for kids. If NBC had used a picture of this book as their cover photo, anyone who has heard of this book or knows what’s in it would assume it was the book in question and almost immediately form at least a cursory opinion about the situation overall. That’s how pictures and headlines work. And because most people only read the headlines and see the pictures, NBC knew they needed to influence people’s opinion toward their framing of the situation before they ever even read the article. So NBC intentionally chose a picture that included a less inflammatory book. People need to start assuming that everything they do is framed to manipulate the public in some way.