Absent from the discussion so far has been long term or global
perspectives. A couple of notes: The worst military attack on US
territory (9-11) is followed only four years later by the worst
'natural' disaster in roughly a century--how does that happen? The
global perspective--here are some things the rest of the world is
hearing: levees could've been repaired but weren't, inadequate
evacuation plans, looting and chaos, police devoted to stopping looting
rather than rescue missions, President sitting around doing nothing...
In other words, the disparity between how the rest of the world
perceives the US (a country so devoted to making money that it lets
social problems fester to gigantic levels, and doesn't know how to pull
together anymore, etc) and how US citizens perceive it ('the greatest
country in the world') will continue to widen.
Steven Sherman
-----Original Message-----
From: Andi Stepnick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: [email protected]
Sent: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 08:13:14 -0500
Subject: TEACHSOC: (no subject)katrina
Those of you talking about Katrina may be interested in this piece
from today's Salon.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/01/photo_controversy/index.html
[Image removed]
Screen shots of the "looting" photos on Yahoo News.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/01/photo_controversy/index.html
"Looting" or "finding"?
Bloggers are outraged over the different captions on photos of blacks
and whites in New Orleans.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Aaron Kinney
[Image removed] [Image removed]
Sept. 1, 2005 | Two photographs of New Orleans residents wading
through chest-deep water unleashed a wave of chatter among bloggers
Wednesday about whether black people are being treated unfairly in
media coverage of post-hurricane looting.
One of the images, shot by photographer Dave Martin for the
Associated Press, shows a young black man wading through chest-deep
waters after "looting" a grocery store, according to the caption. The
young man appears to have a case of Pepsi under one arm and a full
garbage bag in tow. In the other, similar shot, taken by photographer
Chris Graythen for AFP/Getty Images, a white man and a light-skinned
woman are shown wading through chest-deep water after "finding" goods
including bread and soda, according to the caption, in a local grocery
store.
The images were both published on Tuesday by Yahoo News. "We don't
edit photo captions," Yahoo P.R. manager Brian Nelson told Salon.
"Sometimes we take a look at the photos and we'll choose to pull
photos, but the captions run as is." A search of AP and Getty's image
databases confirms that Yahoo News did not alter either of the photo
captions before posting them online.
[Image removed]
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[Image removed]
Looting has become a serious problem in the aftermath of Katrina,
and conditions in the area continue to be extremely challenging for
everyone, journalists included. Bloggers were quick to raise
allegations of insensitivity and racism regarding the disparity in the
two captions -- but did they pass judgment too quickly? Not only did
the photos come from separate outlets, bloggers had no knowledge of the
circumstances in which the shots were taken, beyond what appeared in
the published captions.
On Wednesday, D.C. Web gossip Wonkette suggested the Associated Press
should apologize, while a blogger at Daily Kos commented alongside the
juxtaposed images, "And don't forget. It's not looting if you're
white."
"I am curious how one photographer knew the food was looted by one
but not the other," wrote Boston Globe correspondent Christina
Pazzanese, in a letter posted on media commentator Jim Romenesko's
blog. "Were interviews conducted as they swam by? Should editors, in a
rush to publish poignant or startling images, relax their standards or
allow personal or regional biases creep into captions and stories?"
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.'"
Regarding the AFP/Getty "finding" photo by Graythen, Getty
spokeswoman Bridget Russel said, "This is obviously a big tragedy down
there, so we're being careful with how we credit these photos." Russel
said that Graythen had discussed the image in question with his editor
and that if Graythen didn't witness the two people in the image in the
act of looting, then he couldn't say they were looting.
But if he didn't witness an act of looting, how did Graythen
determine where the items came from, or if they were "found"? "I wish I
could tell you," Russel said. "I haven't been able to talk to Chris."
"The only thing I can tell you is they don't assume one way or
another," she added.
Yahoo News published another photo Tuesday of a looting scene that
caught bloggers' attention. This one, by AP photographer Bill Feig,
shows a white man walking away from a looted convenience store, looking
in a grocery bag, while a black man jumps out of the store's broken
front window. The caption reads, "As one person looks through their
shopping bag, left, another jumps through a broken window, while
leaving a convenience store ... in Metairie, La." According to the
caption, Feig shot the image while on a helicopter tour of Louisiana
with Gov. Kathleen Blanco.
"I think it's fair to say that he described what he saw ... which is
somebody going through their bag," Stokes said, affirming that Feig
must not have seen the man with the grocery bag actually leaving the
looted store.
Both Stokes and Russel said their photographers would be unable to
comment further on the images for now, because of the chaos and poor
communications conditions prevailing in New Orleans and the surrounding
region.
The stakes remain high in the aftermath of this disaster, says
Pazzanese. "Seems to me the national 'crisis mode' coverage of Katrina
in a predominantly black, poor part of the country presents a number of
professional challenges for everyone in the media around the subject of
racial and economic sensitivity," she wrote on Romenesko. "Perhaps
these photos will stimulate a media 'gut check' as we race to tell the
stories of the thousands who lost their lives and livelihoods."
James Cassell wrote:
Everything In Its Path is very good for examining some nonobvious
"social" damages from "natural" disasters. I imagine that many of the
social networks in place in New Orleans, Gulf Port, and other Gulf
towns before the storm won't survive the rebuilding.
It might also be worth pointing out that while the "cause" of the
disaster was nature, human social organization made things worse. The
Buffalo Creek disaster occured during Southern West Virgina's annual
Spring flood season, but the real damage was wrought by the breaking of
a poorly designed and maintained earthern dam meant to hold waste water
from the processing of coal. People on Buffalo Creek had survived many,
many floods; their community was wiped out by the breaking sludge pond.
For Katrina, the "soup bowl" nature of New Orleans created the current
problem of massive flooding.
A personal note of absolutely no significance -- I grew up about 40
miles from Buffalo Creek and remember hearing the first reports of the
disaster on the Logan, WV radio station. One my high school teachers
grew up on Buffalo Creek. After the flood, neither he nor his brother
could find their house. A WWII Vet, he compared the damage to what he
saw in Dresden.
I imagine there are a lot of folks on the Gulf Coast with similar
feelings tonight.
James
-----Original Message-----
From: "Roberts, Keith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Aug 31, 2005 8:03 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [email protected]
Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: Ideas for using Katrina?
-----Original Message-----
I would like to share ideas appropriate for first and second year
students for tapping into to the current news on the Gulf coast - I
think what I am doing is fairly routine (with culture) but I would like
to hear what others are doing.
Susan
* * * * * * * *
In one of my classes I will be doing Kai Erikson's classic study
Everything In Its Path--looking at the social consequences of a
disaster. That study is of a flood, but applications can be made to
other types of disasters.
Keith
------
James Cassell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
--
Andi
Every object, every being,
Is a jar of delight.
Be a connoisseur.
~Rumi~
Life is raw material. We are artisans. We can sculpt our existence
into
something beautiful, or debase it into ugliness. It's in our hands.
~Cathy Better~
Things which matter most should never be at the mercy of things which
matter
least.
~Johann von Goethe~
----------------
Dr. Andi Stepnick
Associate Professor of Sociology
314 Wheeler Humanities Building
Belmont University
Nashville TN 37212-3757
Direct Line: (615) 460-6249
Office Manager: (615) 460-5505
Sociology Fax: (615) 460-6997
