Stock Market Crisis All Over?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26958549/displaymode/1107/s/2/

I frequent the MSNBC website because I like to know what is going on in the world I'm living in. I love looking at their "Picture Stories" because it adds variety to the pages and pages of text. This week the site featured photos of stock exchange woes around the world. It was definitely an eye opener because most of the news has been about the stock market at home. I caught a glimpse outside America's "crisis" bubble.

This photo essay featured stock exchanges from around the world. My favorites were the markets in Paris and Pakistan. The Paris picture has some urgency about it. It may just me my personal interpretation because lost of people here are a little nervous and there is movement in the photo. I have no idea what the information on the monitors means and his desk is piled with papers. This is definitely an area I am not familiar with (the stock exchange) and the processes and language is unknown. I am only able to get meaning from the visual elements I understand.

I like the Pakistan photo because the person pictured is sleeping. I don't know why he is sleeping but I can't help but think it's because there is nothing he can do. He is waiting for further instructions or a specific alert via phone or e-mail. I notice all the fans and it reminds me how hot is is there. The computer monitor is something familiar and it becomes my grounding point.

There are captions with the photos but they are vague. I am left with my own interpretation. My interpetation is based on what I have been seeing and experiencing here in America. I have seen the worried analysts and reporters on the news and I try to follow everthing that is going on. I am only seeing one side and it has been somewhat negative with fear. I keep hearing words like recession and depression and crash.

I think these photos could be used in a classroom to show how biased, one-sided information affects the way we interpret media. Sometimes we can't help the lack of information but we can find out as much as we can. I also think it is important to recognize that we don't know all sides and it is alright to admit it sometimes. I will never know the inner workings of the New York Stock Exchange but I can find out how things that go on there will affect me. These photos can be interpreted in a classroom using the information the students already know and then the teacher can give them more information or send them places to find more info. I guess the main lesson would be to take into account biases and how they can affect interpretation.