Visual Stockpile

Which persons are visually represented in article teaser images and why? The streamgraph on the right represents the weekly number of images for the top 15 people represented in Zeit Online and The New York Times. As the amount of images would be too big for the visualization, each bubble represents 10 visual appearances of a person in a week. You can alter the shown people in the visualization by toggling their respective name in the pills above the visualization. If you want to inspect the distribution of visual appearances for a specific week, you can click on one of the bubbles. Lastly, you can change the outlet shown by the visualization by clicking on the newspapers in the text:

and

Most Mentioned

To begin, the individuals most frequently referenced in both newspapers are Donald Trump and Olaf Scholz. Each ranks as the most prominently depicted figure within their countries respective publication. Notably, however, while lists Donald Trump as the second most visually represented individual, Olaf Scholz does not appear among the top 15 in The New York Times.

Donald Trump dominates the visual landscape of and is very present in Zeit Online, although he is not president for most of the time observed. This could be due to the immediacy of the U.S. elections, his ongoing controversial statements and pick of staff.

Governments

Individuals affiliated with the government or its opposition are represented at disproportionately high levels compared to other prominent figures from popular culture. In the case of , this includes government officials such as Robert Habeck, Annalena Baerbock and Christian Lindner, as well as opposition figures like Markus Söder and Friedrich Merz.

Similarly, highlights government representatives such as Kamala Harris and Anthony Blinken, alongside opposition leaders including Mike Johnson and Nikki Haley. However, compared to the relatively stable coverage of opposition figures in Zeit Online, NYT’s overall coverage of opposition figures is limited and are mostly directly or indirectly linked to Donald Trump.

US Elections

Furthermore, the U.S. presidential election of November 2024 emerged as a major event that substantially increased the visual mentions of certain individuals. A particularly notable phenomenon in this context is the abrupt decline in visual references following the withdrawal of

Joe Biden from the presidential race. In contrast,

Kamala Harris, who had previously been largely absent from visual reporting, experiences a pronounced rise in visual mentions. This pattern is especially evident in , where visual references to Harris also cease following her defeat in November 2024. Although a similar trend can be observed in , the overall magnitude is considerably lower, and Kamala Harris appears far less frequently than in the NYT.

Conflicts

The figures involved in the political dimensions of contemporary conflicts are likewise disproportionately represented visually. In both newspapers,

Vladimir Putin ranks among the most frequently depicted individuals, especially in . This prominence can be attributed to the continued relevance of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Notably, Zeit Online also features

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who does not appear among the top 15 figures in The New York Times, which could be explained by the U.S. government's concentrated diplomatic effort on Russia.

In contrast, provides substantially greater coverage of the ongoing war in Gaza, resulting in a more frequent visual presence of

Benjamin Netanyahu, who doesn’t make it to the top 15 in Zeit Online. This can be attributed to the observed imbalance of coverage of Zeit Online on the Gaza war and a less critical tone towards the actions of Netanyahu’s cabinet.

Editorial Particularities

Finally, newspaper-specific areas of emphasis further illuminate their distinct editorial orientations. In the case of , there is a notable concentration of visual references to national politician

Sahra Wagenknecht and to local political actors such as

Dietmar Woidtke. Moreover, the outlet demonstrates a particular interest in

Christian Lindner, who has faced accusations of undermining his own coalition government.

In contrast, devotes considerable visual attention to individuals closely associated with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, including

JD Vance and

Elon Musk. The newspaper also features more controversial figures, such as

Robert Kennedy, with notable frequency.

Visual Co-appearances

While individual visibility highlights which public figures dominate the visual field of a newspaper, visual co-appearances reveal how newsrooms construct relationships, oppositions, and political constellations. When two political actors appear together in the same image, this juxtaposition often encodes editorial interpretations of alliances, institutional proximity, rivalry, or shared involvement in major events. Analyzing these co-appearances therefore provides insight into how newspapers visually stage political dynamics.

For Zeit Online, co-appearances are dominated by intra-German political relations. The most frequent visual pairings involve key government figures—most notably Olaf Scholz, Christian Lindner and Robert Habeck, who each individually appear together across more than a dozen images. These repeated pairings reflect the centrality of coalition politics in the national news agenda and illustrate how the newspaper frames the internal workings and public presence of the governing alliance. Similarly, Friedrich Merz frequently co-appears with Markus Söder, highlighting the visibility of opposition leadership. In contrast, international figures appear far less often in joint depictions. Exceptions include occasional images pairing Olaf Scholz or Annalena Baerbock with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, reflecting coverage of German involvement and support in the Ukraine conflict.

Overall, Zeit’s visual pairings emphasize coalition governance, domestic conflict, and regional political networks—a pattern consistent with its editorial focus on German national politics.

In The New York Times, visual co-appearances reflect a markedly different structure. The most frequent pairing by far is Donald Trump with his lawyer Todd Blanche, appearing across over sixty images. This extraordinarily high volume underscores the centrality of Trump’s legal challenges in NYT’s visual narrative. It is also disproportionally represented in the co-appearances dataset and indicates an editorial focus on this relationship, as it has provided Blanche an official position in the government, indicating cronyism. Election-related pairings are similarly prominent. Donald Trump frequently co-appears with Kamala Harris, but these are largely found in graphics, opinion pages, and NYT Now—often representing hypothetical matchups or comparative analyses rather than literal photographic scenes. This is interesting, in the sense that the two candidates have not physically met prior to their TV duel but are frequently shown.

NYT’s co-appearances dataset also reveals the newspaper’s focus on the shifting political coalitions surrounding Trump’s candidacy, while political figures from Joe Biden’s government are visually omitted. For instance, images pairing Donald Trump with JD Vance, or appearances of JD Vance with Tim Walz, visually foreground the evolving electoral landscape and vice-presidential contest. International co-appearances remain rare and episodic. Images pairing Benjamin Netanyahu with Joe Biden or Kamala Harris appear only a handful of times, primarily tied to U.S. diplomatic engagement in the Gaza conflict. Co-appearances involving Vladimir Putin are extremely limited, reflecting a narrower visual focus on Russia in comparison to Zeit.

In sum, NYT’s co-appearance patterns center on legal proceedings, electoral competition, and key moments in U.S. foreign policy, with image pairings used to stage political conflict, institutional relationships, and campaign dynamics.