Please can you help me with this? I do not understand the last
sentence, beginning with "Diesen Beigschmack..."

"Iconic turn" nennt man seit einem guten Jahrzehnt die zunehmende
Bildhaftigkeit gesellschaftlicher Kommunikation, in der visuelle
Medien und Phänomene bestimmend geworden sind ? ein Anzeichen für
einen grundsätzlichen kulturellen Wandel. Diese neue öffentliche
Wirkung, die Macht und suggestive Kraft von Bildern entkräften
zuweilen jede vernunftmässige Argumentation. Diesen schalen
Beigeschmack meint, wer von der sprichwörtlichen Bilderflut redet.

Dear leander1,

Literally, "Beigschmack" is a word that is originally connected with
the taste of food. "Aftertaste" would be the best English equivalent.
However, while the English aftertaste is noticed, as the word implies,
after you have eaten the food, you can sense the German Beigeschmack
already while eating it: Something tastes good, but there is a certain
"by-taste".

"Schal" means "insipid", like a beer that has been standing on the
table open too long. Generally, it means that something tastes dull
because it is not fresh (and thus not trustworthy) anymore.

In the figurative sense, the "schaler Beigeschmack" is an expression
used for a certain displeasing "by-taste" connected with an issue.

"Bilderflut" (literally "flood of images") is a German word that
describes the huge quantity of visual information man is confronted
with in the modern world; the world is usually used in a negative way
to express that there are far too many images trying to catch our
attention.

So the last sentence would translate as:
"That displeasing by-taste is what is meant when someone talks about
the proverbial flood of images."


I hope this answers your question!
Regards,
Scriptor

Excellent! Thank you very much!