Photo Captions From Katrina Stir Debate

AP ^ | 9/2/5 | JOCELYN NOVECK

[SmithL]

In one of the photos, a man wades through chest-deep waters with a large black bag filled with items from a grocery store. In another, two people wade through equally high waters, carrying bread and soda.

They were just two out of hundreds of stunning images transmitted Tuesday, the day after Katrina ravaged New Orleans. What has drawn attention to these two photos, though, is their captions.

In the first, the young man, who is black, is described as having "looted" the items. In the second, the pair, who are white or light-skinned, are described as "finding" the items.

The photos were by two different photographers working for two different news agencies, The Associated Press and AFP/Getty Images. But they appeared together on Yahoo News, and they sparked a flurry of blog entries, emails and calls contending the captions were unfair to blacks.

"The pictures appear to be identical but one individual is "looting" and the other is "finding" needed items!" one person wrote the AP. "This is irresponsible journalism and fuels the attitude that 'all' African-Americans are looters."

On Thursday, Yahoo withdrew the photo of the light-skinned pair at the request of Agence France Presse, which distributes Getty's U.S-produced photos internationally. In a note, Yahoo wrote it "regrets that these photos and captions, viewed together, may have suggested a racial bias on our part.

AFP said it withdrew the photo because it had been flooded with time-consuming phone calls and emails, while already stretched covering the enormous tragedy.

"It's safe to say that it was just causing us a lot of problems," said Bob Pearson, AFP's director of photography in the United States.

The Associated Press said its policy was clear.

"When we see people go into businesses and come out with goods, we call it looting,"

[jordan8]

Another fabricated non-controversy designed to distract people from the fact that the OVERWHELMING majority of looting and anarchy in New Orleans. It's just FUD trying to convince people (and it will be successful too) they're not seeing what they are seeing. It might be added that the woman in one of the "finding" photos appears to be black, and the other showed one white and one black coming out of a store. Presumably the black got just as much benefit from being labeled a non-looter as the white. But I see they've already dropped that photo from this non-contoversy.

[jordan8]

OVERWHELMING majority of looting and anarchy in New Orleans was black.