Hurricane Katrina Photos

The two images to the left were recently introduced to me, during my Reporting for Mass Media class. My class had a brief discussion about ethics in the media and were asked to look at these two photos and the captions that were attached to them.

Notice a difference?

In the top photograph a young, black male was "looting" food from a grocery store.

In the bottom photograph an adult white male, and an adult Hispanic woman were "finding" food from a grocery story.

So which of these statements is the "right" one to use during this time in the Katrina aftermath.

At first glance I have to say I was angry. I "knew" it was RIGHT to state the same action being done in both photographs, but then I had to reconsider. As I was reconsidering the photographs and the captions, it seemed like this could be an ethical dilemma.

Is it right to post the photographs? (Even if the top photo could be a minor)

Is it right to interview these individuals before posting and putting a caption with these photos? (To find out what was actually going on, or if they had already had the food)

Well our class professor discussed that during this time if individuals found food it was "ok" to take it, it may have been looting but it was not going to be a charged crime. So are both captions right?

I do believe that perhaps both captions are right, but one caption alludes to criminal activity with an African-American child, which is a stereotype. Not ok. The Associated Press should have taken that into consideration when they used this image and caption.

At the same time I do realize that these are two different news agencies so maybe if they were both consistent with their photograph captions then that decides what is "right?"

Example: If the Associated Press printed multiple photographs of people, all different races, carrying food and stated that all of them were looting, then it wouldn't be an issue? Or it could be their "right."