Posted: Mon Jun 24 2002
Tiny Asteroid Appears Enormous In CNN Graphic

A June 21 CNN story broke the news of an asteroid that came within 75,000 miles of the Earth. Though the asteroid was only around 100 meters in diameter, the accompanying graphic showed an object roughly the size of the moon smashing into the Earth and obliterating much of the planet.

Such distortions of scale and events in news graphics are caused by something experts in optical physics call the opti-sensatio effect, also known as FoxNews syndrome.

Physicist and graphic designer Ralph Bartel, who has been studying the phenomenon for the past week or two, explains. "The opti-sensation effect occurs when a news item isn't a big enough story on it's own, so a much more attention grabbing image is created to give the illusion there is something interesting or shocking involved."

For a example, Bartel said how a story about drug testing on animals might be accompanied by a picture of a tiny white mouse next to a giant hypodermic needle three or four times the size of the mouse.

Bartel likens the effect to men bragging about the size of their penises and the extent of their sexual conquests in an effort to make a more interesting story. "Yes, it's just like that," says Bartel.