The depths that people will go to create conspiracies always amazes me. The latest "conspiracy"? Obama staged the photos from his big announcement earlier this week.



Big deal. Is this really the best that the conspiracy nuts can do?

Comdex 1999

I really enjoy going to conferences. Many years ago, my employer sent me to Comdex. (This was before Comdex rapidly degraded and went bankrupt. For you young'uns, Comdex back then was what CES was like a few years ago -- a showcase for new technologies as well as plenty of "me too" products.)

I arrived there the day before and decided to go hunting for free food. My thinking was that there just had to be a party somewhere that had free food. After wandering around the Venetian in Las Vegas for about 10 minutes, I spotted my target: a big room with lots of people and plenty of food. Nobody even noticed that I entered, spoke to nobody, and just ate food.

The room even had free drinks! I managed to get up to the bar and placed my order. The woman behind me was being crowded and couldn't reach the bar, so I asked for her order and relayed a drink for her. Then I noticed a guy with a broken leg and crutches who was having trouble getting through the crowd to the bar. I felt pity, so I asked him what he wanted. "What beers do they have?" I grabbed a fist full of beers from the bar so he could see. "I want the girl in the skirt." Poof, he had his St. Pauli Girl.

After eating my fill, I decided to head out. I reached the huge double doors when they flew open and this really short girl in a red jacket and surrounded by huge bodyguards shouted, "Alright everybody! We are forming a line HERE!" and she pointed at me. Uh... what was I in line for? The next thing I knew, the entire room formed a line and I somehow got pushed to 5th position.

Then she announced, "We will be checking everyone's ID!" And she proceeded to look at the badge of the first person. I had my Comdex badge, but mine was just an attendee (and it was hung backwards so nobody could see it). Everyone else seemed to have a little "PR" code on their badges. (PR? What's that?) Then she checked the second person. Uh oh, here's where I get kicked out. Third person... Fourth... And then it happened.

Standing about 4 people behind me was that guy with the broken leg and crutches. He held out his badge, swung it around everyone around him, and announced, "They are all with me." Huh? Okay! And I was cleared to march with the media circus (PR means press) to hear Bill Gate's keynote speech.

The media got to sit in the first section of this huge auditorium. I had an aisle seat, center of the room, 5 rows from the stage. Literally across the aisle (and one row behind me) was George Lucas. (Pics or it didn't happen!) And after the keynote, I got to speak with my good friends, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola. (That's me sans hat, inside the circle of bodyguards. I had met Francis a year earlier at his winery in Napa Valley. I'm sure he remembers me... I was collecting corks.)


The first five minutes of the keynote were just what you would expect. A short intro, Bill Gates walks out, and then he posed. He struck a number of poses for the cameras. Some open mouth as if he were talking, others as if he was pointing or gesturing. During this time, the media was allowed to leave their seats, forming a mosh pit with cameras in front of the stage. The idea was simple: get all of the flash photography out of the way so nobody disturbs the real presentation.

(Meanwhile, I get a photo of the mosh pit, Bill Gates, and the security staff... Taken from my chair.)



Everyone knew the photos were staged before the presentation. Nobody considered it to be suspicious or a conspiracy. And this was everyone in the media. Nobody was surprised, everyone expected it. (Even I expected it. And remember: I crashed this party.)

After the photo session, he gave his keynote address. Very few people took pictures during the live presentation, and security escorted out anyone who used a flash.

Common Practices

Taking pictures before or after a big speech is not just commonplace, it is expected and a standard operating practice. Just as Bill Gates posed for photos at Comdex (12 years ago), celebrities have always posed for photos before and after big speeches. The surprise is not that Obama did this for one of his speeches (or most of his speeches), nor that George W. Bush, George Bush, and Bill Clinton all did it too... the surprise is that people are actually surprised that this happens! The surprise is that major media outlets, like the LA Times, actually covered the fact that he posed for pictures. It must be a conspiracy!

If they didn't pose for these photos separately from the speech, then the live video camera would be blinded every time a flash went off, and nobody would get that really close "he's got pores!" photo without getting in the way of every other camera. They don't call it a "photo op" for nothing.

There is a conspiracy here, but it's not what you think. The practice of posing for photos has been around as long as there have been cameras. The fact that multiple branches of the media decided to run this as a story in order to try to divert attention from a major event? That's the conspiracy.

Here's another little secret that these conspiracy people will probably use at a later date: Those in-person interviews, where the camera cuts back and forth between the interviewer and interviewee? Yeah, they are re-recorded. In fact, the interviewer's sections are almost always recorded separately, after the interview. This permits the media to alter their questions and appear more informed. Watch 60 Minutes, Dateline, and other news shows that conduct "one on one" interviews. They do it all the time! Cut to the interviewer asking a question, cut to the interviewee answering a question, cut back for another question, etc. In reality, the interviewee is probably answering a similar question, but the interviewer re-recorded the question so it looks nicer for when it plays on TV. In some cases, the interviewer wasn't even the person asking the questions, or wasn't in the same room (watch for background changes). The interview might be conduced in California, and the TV interviewer may actually be sitting in New York when they record and splice in the questions. Very common, and done very often.

And another little secret? The weather map behind the weather bunny is actually a green screen. Sorry to break it to you.