Representation Bias Quotes

The camera lies all the time; lies 24 times/second.

Imagine a crime series in which, every week, there is a white suspect and a black suspect. And every week, lo and behold, the black one turns out to have done it. Unpardonable, of course. And my point is that you could not defend it by saying: "But it's only fiction, only entertainment."

There's a burden of representation that comes into play when there aren't enough representatives of a certain group in popular culture.

I never hear white writers get asked, 'Do you worry about how you represent white people?'

I don't really believe that documentary is objective reality and fiction is all illusion.

When 93 percent of our stories are told by white men, it's an issue. And if those white men go on and tell the stories the way they see their world, which is all white, then it's an even bigger problem.

For the most part, congressional Republicans represent people who are whiter, older and richer than most Americans, and our creaky old political system gives those Americans disproportionate influence over public policy.

In minority communities there's a sensitivity, often a knee-jerk reaction, to critical representations. There's a misunderstanding of what an artist does.

People do want to see themselves reflected. They'll never believe that Gwen Graham, Philip Levine, Chris King, or Jeff Greene will be a better representative of their interests than I will be.

I never believe I'm presenting objective reality; I also don't want to delude people into thinking that my subject is talking directly to them.

Photography has always been capable of manipulation. Even more subtle and more invidious is the fact that any time you put a frame to the world, it's an interpretation. I could get my camera and point it at two people and not point it at the homeless third person to the right of the frame, or not include the murder that's going on to the left of the frame. You take 35 degrees out of 360 degrees and call it a photo. There's an infinite number of ways you can do this: photographs have always been authored.

There is also an artistic element which is lead by the film maker. Issues of what is reality and objectivity are as always relevant as someone is going to edit the film.

the press is too often a distorting mirror, which deforms the people and events it represents, making them seem bigger or smaller than they really are.