This image spread like wildfire on Wednesday: The photo shows the world’s heads of state shortly after learning that a missile had hit Poland, a NATO country.
Tension is written on the faces of Western leaders. They were all preoccupied with the one important question: Was it an accident – or a targeted attack on a NATO country? However, the picture of the historical moment of crisis is not a snapshot. In fact, as the “image” reports, the photo is pure PR.
All eyes on Scholz
The alleged snapshot, taken on the margins of the G20 summit in Bali, was taken by Steffen Hebestreit (50), government spokesman for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (64). It is almost impossible for photographers to get into such conferences behind closed doors and capture such scenes.
As government spokesman, Hebestreit’s job is to ensure the good reputation of the SPD politician. The question is whether it is a coincidence that Scholz plays a central role in the photo. He is in deep conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, with the heads in the room about half turned to him and half to gloomy US President Joe Biden.
So did Germany play a leading role in this crisis body alongside the US?
As the newspaper continues, the photo was intended to give exactly this impression. According to communication professor Klaus Kocks (70), it is purely government PR. “It should look like a private photo, but it’s staged, coordinated with the PR staff of the other heads of state,” VW’s former PR head told Bild. And he doubles down: “The photo is a blatant lie!”
Photos that have been handed out continue to do the rounds
Such staged images of world powers are not uncommon. The PR heads of the heads of state often work with so-called distributed photos.
A photo of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel (68) and former US President Donald Trump (76) at the G7 summit in Canada in June 2018 went viral. In the photo, the two were surrounded by a number of other heads of state. (dzc)