Pictures of the Day: Egypt and Elsewhere

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Photos from Egypt, Gaza, Syria and Jordan.

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Some Second Thoughts and Reader Feedback About the Middle East and Social Media

When I wrote on Wednesday about The Times's Jerusalem bureau chief, Jodi Rudoren, and criticism of her social media use, many readers â€" and some of those quoted in the blog post â€" responded. Readers who are on Twitter can see some of it there (though, let's face it, in the Twitter universe, something from two days ago is about as fresh as Chaucer), and others can see a lively and provocative discussion in the comments below the post.

But I do want to make two points, after having some time to consider what I wrote and the reaction.

1. As has been pointed out to me by a number of readers, I should have provided more context for the quotation from Jeffrey Goldberg, briefly describing him, as I did another source of criticism, Philip Weiss.

< p> One reader (“freespeechlover” from Wichita, Kan.), made this comment:

“Jeffrey Goldberg is not labeled in the manner as is Philip Weiss. Why not? Why is Phillip Weiss an “anti-Zionist Jewish American,” while Goldberg is just Goldberg? Why isn't he a “Zionist Jewish American, who served in the IDF as a prison guard during the 1st Intifada?” or even a “Zionist Jewish American who writes about the Middle East for The Atlantic?” 

Why is that missing parallel technique of representation absent?”

Those descriptions are accurate, to my knowledge, and at least some of that certainly would have been helpful for readers in evaluating his comments. I have also heard from the Palestinian journalist and activist Ali Abunimah, who was mentioned unfavorably in Mr. Goldberg's quotation. He called Mr. Go ldberg's description of him as wanting the destruction of Israel “wildly inflammatory,” and also objected to the lack of context. Mr. Abunimah's views on a one-state solution to the conflict are the subject of his 2006 book, “One Country,” and may also be in this article on his Web site.

2. Many readers and media critics deplore the idea of The Times's assigning a foreign-desk editor to work with Ms. Rudoren on her Facebook posts and her Twitter messages. They were quick to say that The Times has assigned her a social media “minder” or “baby sitter,” and that edited posts were useless since they remove the person-to-person communication that is at the heart of social media.

They make some good points. The idea of editing anyone's social media p osts runs counter to the ethos of Facebook and Twitter. And I may have gone too far in calling it “a necessary step.” But I remain sympathetic to Times editors. They have to take Ms. Rudoren's presence on social media seriously and, from all I can tell, they did not have a lot of options.

I also heard from readers who said that the real problem isn't what a reporter blurts out on social media in an unguarded moment, but what he or she really thinks â€" their entire worldview and mind-set. And they would prefer to know what that is, even if they don't agree.

Important journalistic questions of objectivity, impartiality, bias and transparency lie just beneath the surface here. I plan to explore some of these in a print column later this month. (And then I'll send a link to the column out on Twitter â€" all by myself.)

I appreciate the discussion.

Bright Flash, Small City

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Brassaï had Paris. Weegee had New York.

Mark Cohen, well, he has Wilkes-Barre.

He has lived in the down-on-its-luck small city in northeast Pennsylvania for 69 years - his entire life. He started taking pictures of car wrecks for t he local newspaper while he was in high school and ran a photo studio from his house for more than 35 years. In between the weddings, portraits and commercial assignments - on which he raised a family - he shot quirky street images for his own pleasure.

The photos were relentlessly sad, often disturbing. He was not interested in documenting, but in making images that were “a psychological imprint” of what he was looking at. Holding a little Vivitar flash in one hand and his Leica in the other, he waded right into his photographs, running up to people and photographing them from a few feet away.

Mark Cohen Boy and Bag, 1974.

It's an approach that's been repl icated by other street photographers, but under much different circumstances.

“I'm photographing in the backyards and alleys of Wilkes-Barre and nearby coal towns,” he said. “On Fifth Avenue in New York, there's a lot of people there. If you go into a back alley in Elmira, it's not the same thing - and it's very suspicious to set off a flash.”

His habit of approaching unsuspecting subjects has led to altercations, including a few that turned physical. More than once, while making a detail of someone's clothing with his 28 mm lens, he has been called a pervert.

Though he photographed almost exclusively in Wilkes-Barre and two neighboring counties, he often took a bus to New York to see exhibits and take classes. In 1973, John Szarkowski gave him a one-man show at the MoMA and included him in the 1978 group show, “Mirrors and Windows: American Photography Since 1960.” His photo (slide 2) appeared on the cover of The New York Times Sunday Magazine on July 23, 1978, in an article by Hilton Kramer called “The New American Photography.”

In the fairy-tale version of his life, he might have gone on to move into a SoHo loft, hobnob with artists and become a luminary in the photography world while continuing to produce innovative work.

That's not what happened.

He had to support a family, and there was not much of a market - or money - for street photography. He recalls exhibits where his prints sold for $75, next to photos by Harry Callahan selling for $150.

So he stayed where he was and produced his personal work between weddings and portraits. Wilkes-Barre may not have been the best place to be an art photographer, but it turned out to be a pretty good place to develop his personal work.

Mark Cohen Bare Thin Arms and Aluminum Siding, 1981.

There are many street photographers in big-city galleries showing images from Manhattan or Paris. But Mr. Cohen has Wilkes-Barre all to himself. Though he insists that his photos are not documentary, the Rust Belt city and two nearby counties have been a perfect canvas for his upsetting imagery.

“You can make these pictures anywhere,” he said. “You could make them in Cincinnati or in Elmira, they don't have to be made in Wilkes-Barre.”

And while Mr. Cohen is not a household name in photography, he has a small, devoted following. His book, “Grim Street,” published in 2005 by powerHouse Books, has become a cult classic among street photographers. In the last decade his prints started selling - for much more than $75 - in galleries in New York and Los Angeles.

He has closed his commercial business and is c oncentrating on his personal work. He lives in a 4,000-square-foot house and now feels that staying put allowed him to produce better work.

“If I came to New York City and started horsing around and getting in long aesthetic discussions with professors of art, or hanging out with artists at the Cedar Bar? It would have been incredibly distracting.”

Mark Cohen Breasts, Lips, Hair, 1973.

Images from Mark Cohen's “Grim Street” series will be on display at the Third Floor Gallery in Cardiff, Wales, beginning Dec. 8 through Jan. 27.

Follow @JamesEstrin and @nytimesphoto on Twi tter.