Epstein's files and saturation as an alibi
The Jeffrey Epstein files that the US Department of Justice has made public are terribly sordid. Every time they are discussed, they are presented as a promise of light and transparency, but when we see new documents, the result becomes increasingly dark and confusing. Nicolás Valle's magnificent chronicle in Weekend news The report from Saturday at midday was very well done. It's worth revisiting through the 3Cat platform. The agile montage of images with boxes, papers with photographs, and censored texts was a way of provoking in the viewer that feeling of an overwhelming avalanche of documents. "It's not the whole truth. It's an attempt to turn the Epstein case into the Clinton case," the journalist points out, highlighting a symptomatic bias: a good portion of the published documents contain many scenes linked to Bill Clinton. In contrast, Donald Trump's scant presence becomes symbolic and anything but innocent: "Donald Trump appears marginally. And when he does, he implies that he has an enormous penis," Valle states, accompanying the image that justifies it. The news report is more of an analysis than a description and suggests that the selection of documents is not objective but rather self-serving.
Valle points out: "It's not so much what's shown, but what's missing," referring to the large number of documents manipulated with black boxes that obscure much of the information. The journalist includes the testimonies of the victims' families, who criticize the censorship and the use of the case as a "political toy."
The two-and-a-half-minute report works through accumulation. It underscores the pattern of the scenes depicted: "friendships, encounters, trips, and silences." But it reinforces the unsettling perception of it all: "It's an uncomfortable litany that runs through decades of power, money, and fame." These three axes that structure the story are what add ambiguity to the photographs: some appear to be scenes of simple social gatherings, while others, with jacuzzis and naked women, reveal the perverse context of sexual abuse.
The report effectively connects with the sense of bewilderment that the whole thing evokes. He offers an argument that helps to understand it: the lack of context. The journalist clarifies that many of the photos are undated and lack detailed descriptions of the circumstances. He concludes: "Instead of telling the story, they help to confuse. Where the potential perpetrators are lost in the crowd." The mix of celebrities (from Noam Chomsky to Michael Jackson, including Woody Allen, Mick Jagger, and Ehud Barak) and the combination of celebratory meals with sordid scenes involving minors end up acting as a device of noise rather than revelation. The abundance of images, disordered and decontextualized, operates as a system of opacity. The excess dilutes the narrative and obscures its responsibilities. Curiously, the disinformation, the fragmentation of the narrative, and the saturation without hierarchy that depersonalizes blame in the halls of power end up becoming a cynical homage to Chomsky's own theories.
