A bit controversial!

[aido_b]

Check out the reports beside these two pictures and post what you think!

First Report

Second Report

[ken foree]

great spot! well done!

[EnDai]

Is it cause he is Asian?

[pete]

Presumable the grocery store was wrecked & good going to waste so even if took without permission could hardly be classified as looting? Bit different to taking a wide screen tv.

[ken foree]

Presumable the grocery store was wrecked & good going to waste so even if took without permission could hardly be classified as looting? Bit different to taking a wide screen tv.

hmm.. well it's still reporters making a value judgement on a picture.. both ARE looting, technically. i'm reminded of the shopping mall in dawn of the dead.

and sure that telly mighta been going to waste an' all

[Fergie's Son]

Seems to me that they were both looting. Amazing that no-one has even two days food on hand that they have to resort to looting!

[Troy.McClure]

Ha, thats so funny, in such a sad way

[gustavo]

http://news.yahoo.com/page/photostatement

[patsh]

Surely the point in not whether anyone was looting or not, but the fact that we have here a prime example of institutionalised racism in America.....

[Jerry The Saint]

An interesting aside to the disaster but really a non-story. Now if Yahoo were writing their own captions to the photos and made a racial distinction that's one thing but the fact that they came from two separate news agencies makes it difficult to impose some sort of editorial philosopy after the event.

[paul_oshea]

sorry i missed this, what were the captions beside the photos???

[Jerry The Saint]

Surely the point in not whether anyone was looting or not, but the fact that we have here a prime example of institutionalised racism in America.....

"Institutionalised Racism" or maybe just one guy who's just watched his hometown get destroyed (the AFP photographer, Chris Graythen) reporting what he saw:

http://www.sportsshooter.com/message...html?tid=17204

->> Jeasus, I don't belive how much crap I'm getting from this. First of all, I hope you excuse me, but I'm completely at the end of my rope. You have no Idea how stressful this whole disaster is, espically since I have not seen my wife in 5 days, and my parents and grand parents HAVE LOST THIER HOMES. As of right now, we have almost NOTHING.

Please stop emailing me on this one.

I wrote the caption about the two people who 'found' the items. I believed in my opinion, that they did simply find them, and not 'looted' them in the definition of the word. The people were swimming in chest deep water, and there were other people in the water, both white and black. I looked for the best picture. there were a million items floating in the water - we were right near a grocery store that had 5+ feet of water in it. it had no doors. the water was moving, and the stuff was floating away. These people were not ducking into a store and busting down windows to get electronics. They picked up bread and cokes that were floating in the water. They would have floated away anyhow. I wouldn't have taken in, because I wouldn't eat anything that's been in that water. But I'm not homeless. (well, technically I am right now.)


I'm not trying to be politically correct. I'm don't care if you are white or black. I spent 4 hours on a boat in my parent's neighborhood shooting, and rescuing people, both black and white, dog and cat. I am a journalist, and a human being - and I see all as such. If you don't belive me, you can look on Getty today and see the images I shot of real looting today, and you will see white and black people, and they were DEFINATELY looting. And I put that in the caption.

Please, please don't argue symantics over this one. This is EXTREMELY serious, and I can't even begin to convey to those not here what it is like. Please, please, be more concerned on how this affects all of us (watch gas prices) and please, please help out if you can.

This is my home, I will hopefully always be here. I know that my friends in this business across the gulf south are going through the exact same thing - and I am with them, and will do whatever I can to help. But please, please don't email me any more about this caption issue.

And please, don't yell at me about spelling and grammar. Im eating my first real meal (a sandwich) right now in 3 days.

When this calms down, I will be more than willing to answer any questions, just ask.


Thank you all -
-Chris Graythen

And the AP photographer reporting what HE saw in a completely separate event?

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/20...rsy/index.html

The AP database includes two other images from the same scene by photographer Dave Martin that refer to looters in the captions, though neither actually shows an explicit act of looting. Jack Stokes, AP's director of media relations, confirmed today that Martin says he witnessed the people in his images looting a grocery store. "He saw the person go into the shop and take the goods," Stokes said, "and that's why he wrote 'looting' in the caption."

Santiago Lyon, AP's director of photography, told Salon that all captions are vetted by editors and are the result of a dialogue between editor and photographer. Lyon said AP's policy is that each photographer can describe only what he or she actually sees. He added, "When we see people go into businesses and come out with goods, we call it 'looting.'" On the other hand, he said, "When we just see them carrying things down the road, we call it 'carrying items.'"

[Fair_play_boy]

Seems to me that they were both looting. Amazing that no-one has even two days food on hand that they have to resort to looting!

These areas are very difficult to get into even with all the resources open to the US government, so it is fair to assume that the damage done to homes in that area is pretty massive. Unless somebody happened to be on the way home from the big weekly shop, they are unlikely to have anything to eat with them, and their homes are probably destroyed.