finding versus looting

Hollis Barnhart hbarnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM
Tue Sep 6 01:23:24 UTC 2005


Interestingly, if A-F-P rewrote the caption, it does not appear on the
website of their distributer, Getty Images (see
http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source/search/details_pop.aspx?iid=53509740&cdi=0
).

from urban legends site, snopes.com:   _similar photographs from the same
news services variously describe the depicted actions as "looting,"
"raiding," "taking," "finding," and "making off"_ (ref.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/katrina/looters.asp )

For the yahoo statement see:
http://news.yahoo.com/page/photostatement

Hollis Barnhart


American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on Monday, September 05,
2005 at 7:05 PM -0500 wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>Subject:      Re: finding versus looting
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>But what did A F-P rewrite it to?  I didn't find that in the
>article.  And since A F-P asked (ordered?) Yahoo to remove the photo,
>we can't find out easily.
>
>At 9/5/2005 06:04 PM, you wrote:
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Hollis Barnhart <hbarnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM>
>>Subject:      finding versus looting
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>If you thought refugee, evacuee, insurgent were loaded words --- now
>>there's looter and, presumably, finder.
>>Photographer Graythen (and Agence France-Presse) have re-written their
>>caption, not the AP.
>>Hollis Barnhart (David Barnhart's spouse).
>>
>> From today's New York Times:
>>
>>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/business/05caption.html
>>
>>"Who's a Looter? In Storm's Aftermath, Pictures Kick Up a Different Kind
>>of Tempest"
>>
>>By TANIA RALLI
>>Published: September 5, 2005
>>Two news photographs ricocheted through the Internet last week and set
>off
>>a debate about race and the news media in the aftermath of Hurricane
>>Katrina.
>>[photo] Information from The A.P. photographer described this young man
>as
>>looting.
>>[photo] In a similar visual circumstance, the white couple was described
>>by a different agency's photographer as finding food.
>>
>>The first photo, taken by Dave Martin, an Associated Press photographer
>in
>>New Orleans, shows a young black man wading through water that has risen
>>to his chest. He is clutching a case of soda and pulling a floating bag.
>>The caption provided by The A.P. says he has just been "looting a grocery
>>store."
>>The second photo, also from New Orleans, was taken by Chris Graythen for
>>and distributed by Agence France-Presse. It shows a white couple up to
>>their chests in the same murky water. The woman is holding some bags of
>>food. This caption says they are shown "after finding bread and soda from
>>a local grocery store."
>>Both photos turned up Tuesday on Yahoo News, which posts automatic feeds
>>of articles and photos from wire services. Soon after, a user of the
>>photo-sharing site Flickr juxtaposed the images and captions on a single
>>page, which attracted links from many blogs. The left-leaning blog Daily
>>Kos linked to the page with the comment, "It's not looting if you're
>>white."
>>The contrast of the two photo captions, which to many indicated a double
>>standard at work, generated widespread anger toward the news media that
>>quickly spread beyond the Web.
>>On Friday night, the rapper Kanye West ignored the teleprompter during
>>NBC's live broadcast of "A Concert for Hurricane Relief," using the
>>opportunity to lambaste President Bush and criticize the press. "I hate
>>the way they portray us in the media," he said. "You see a black family,
>>it says they're looting. You see a white family, it says they're looking
>>for food."
>>Many bloggers were quick to point out that the photos came from two
>>different agencies, and so could not reflect the prejudice of a single
>>media outlet. A writer on the blog BoingBoing wrote: "Perhaps there's
>more
>>factual substantiation behind each copywriter's choice of words than we
>>know. But to some, the difference in tone suggests racial bias, implicit
>>or otherwise."
>>According to the agencies, each photographer captioned his own
>photograph.
>>Jack Stokes, a spokesman for The A.P., said that photographers are told
>to
>>describe what they have seen when they write a caption.
>>Mr. Stokes said The A.P. had guidelines in place before Hurricane Katrina
>>struck to distinguish between "looting" and "carrying." If a photographer
>>sees a person enter a business and emerge with goods, it is described as
>>looting. Otherwise The A.P. calls it carrying.
>>Mr. Stokes said that Mr. Martin had seen the man in his photograph wade
>>into a grocery store and come out with the sodas and bag, so by A.P.'s
>>definition, the man had looted.
>>The photographer for Getty Images, Mr. Graythen, said in an e-mail
>message
>>that he had also stuck to what he had seen to write his caption, and had
>>actually given the wording a great deal of thought. Mr. Graythen
>described
>>seeing the couple near a corner store from an elevated expressway. The
>>door to the shop was open, and things had floated out to the street. He
>>was not able to talk to the couple, "so I had to draw my own
>conclusions,"
>>he said.
>>In the extreme conditions of New Orleans, Mr. Graythen said, taking
>>necessities like food and water to survive could not be considered
>>stealing. He said that had he seen people coming out of stores with
>>computers and DVD players, he would have considered that looting.
>>"If you're taking something that runs solely from a wall outlet that
>>requires power from the electric company - when we are not going to have
>>power for weeks, even months - that's inexcusable," he said.
>>Since the photo was published last Tuesday Mr. Graythen has received more
>>than 500 e-mail messages, most of them supportive, he said.
>>Within three hours of the photo's publication online, editors at Agence
>>France-Presse rewrote Mr. Graythen's caption. But the original caption
>>remained online as part of a Yahoo News slide show. Under pressure to
>keep
>>up with the news, and lacking the time for a discussion about word
>choice,
>>Olivier Calas, the agency's director of multimedia, asked Yahoo to remove
>>the photo last Thursday.
>>Now, in its place, when readers seek the picture of the couple, a
>>statement from Neil Budde, the general manager of Yahoo News, appears in
>>its place. The statement emphasizes that Yahoo News did not write the
>>photo captions and that it did not edit the captions, so that the photos
>>can be made available as quickly as possible.
>>Mr. Calas said Agence France-Presse was bombarded with e-mail messages
>>complaining about the caption. He said the caption was unclear and should
>>have been reworded earlier. "This was a consequence of a series of
>>negligences, not ill intent," he said.
>>For Mr. Graythen, whose parents and grandparents lost their homes in the
>>disaster, the fate of the survivors was the most important thing. In his
>>e-mail message he wrote: "Now is no time to pass judgment on those trying
>>to stay alive. Now is no time to argue semantics about finding versus
>>looting. Now is no time to argue if this is a white versus black issue."
>>.



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