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Media Racial Bias


mrell32

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It's hard to argue with that. With the pictures side by side. And you can clearly see that both finder and looter are carrying food or drink.

There is clearly a difference between the desparate looking for food and water to survive in a city without the basic necessities of survival, and the opportunist who is little more than the scum he is wading through.

Mayor Nagin, who is desparately trying to save his city's very existence and rescue its citizens, has tonight been forced to order all 1500 police officers off of rescue duty and back to law enforcement. The looters are giving New Orleans a black eye worse than the hurricane itself, and unfortunately, it is an image that many won't soon forget.

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That's horrible. They are doing the exact same thing!

Anyhow, I'm black and to see the looters grabbing tvs and electronics is shameful and hurtful to our community. We fight stigmas everyday, and these people don't realize how they are hurting not only others, but themselves. On top of everything, its being played out in front of a national audience.

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That's horrible.  They are doing the exact same thing!

Anyhow, I'm black and to see the looters grabbing tv's and electronics is shameful and hurtful to our community.  We fight stigmas everyday, and these people don't realize how they are hurting not only others, but themselves. On top of everything, its being played out in front of a national audience.

It's not that they are black. It's that they are shameless and proud of their actions. It's warped beyond comprehension.

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I brought up the black issue because it directly effects me, and it's kind of the on par with the post.

While most of us may see that this is a small group of criminals, there are still far too many who stereotype the small group onto the larger New Orleans black community. Most of these residents are decent people who are desparate for help.

It was encouraging to see Channel 13 showing the desparate people and the efforts to help them, especially Houston's efforts, while letting the cable networks sensationalize the looters.

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It's hard to argue with that.

Actually, I find it pretty easy to argue with that.

1: The images were taken by different photographers, one working for AP, the other for AFP. So the circumstances surrounding what happened could have been completely different. If it was the same photo you might have a leg to stand on, but they are different photos and no one but the photographers know what happened just before the shots were taken. Do you know if the white people were allowed into a store by police, as there are reports of police doing? Do you know if the black people broke through a store window to get what they're carrying? No, you don't. But the original posted implies that the situations were equal. There is no evidence of this.

2. The photographers don't write the captions, the photo editors do. One was an AP photo, so the "looting" caption was probably written by an American in Dallas or Atlanta or wherever the nearest AP photo office is. By the grammar used in the AFP (Agence France Press) photo caption, it was clearly either written in French and poorly translated to English or written by a Frenchman in poor English. The original poster pretends to know the intent of two different people on different continents who speak different languages in different companies with different customs and different photos and editorial guidelines, and justifies this by lumping these two people together as "the media." By the same logic I can say "Why doesn't John Kerry stop the war in Iraq? He's a 'politician' and they're all in it together after all."

3. If I wanted to be a pendant, I'd point out the fact that the woman accused of looting is carrying a case of Diet Pepsi and a large black sack of unknown contents. What's in the bag? It could be cigarettes for all we know, but the original poster's argument supposes it's baby formula. There is no way for us to know. However, the photographer does know since he was there and we are not. In the second picture the woman labeled as "finding" the food has a bag of bread and a jug of what appears to be milk or juice. She also has a backpack which appears to be mostly empty. Assuming the two went to the same grocery store, which is highly unlikely, I find it very easy to be more sympathetic to a person with bread and juice than someone with Diet Pepsi and cigarettes.

4. The second photo is labeled "Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store..." How do you know this isn't true? Why do you assume it's not true? Is it not equally possible that they did find the food. That it was floating through the water with the other debris and they snagged it? The photographer was there and saw what happened. You didn't. To assume that everyone is lying to you implies some psychological issues that should be addressed.

5. Try really hard to remove this phrase from your lexicon: "The Media." There is no "The Media." It's just a phrase invented by politicians so they have someone to blame when they get busted. It came into vogue about the time that the Clinton scandals started and his defenders needed to deflect attention from the problem of presidential scandal so they blamed "the media." There is no giant media conspiracy. Reporters, editors, publishers, producers, et.al. are highly competitive and when they talk to each other they rarely talk shop. With the exception of extraordinary circumstances all newsrooms operate completely independently of each other. It's not unusual for some lazy person who wants the number for a TV station or newspaper or radio station to call the first madia outlet they come to in the phone book and ask for the number of the place they're actually trying to get in touch with. You know what these people are always told? "Look it up; that's what we'd do." Most newsrooms don't even have the phone numbers for the other newsrooms. If you think there's some big "media conspiracy" to change the way people think, then congradulations -- your way of thinking has already been changed by another conspiracy.

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Thats very true... the media just hangs in poor african american neighborhoods an makes it looks like only black ppl are stealing

And you know this how? Have you watched every channel and catalogued every broadcast? No, you haven't. You're just perpetuating a sterotype that exists in your head as part of your personal worldview.

Did you even bother to think about why the coverage of New Orleans has featured blacks and the coverage of its suburbs and Mississippi/Alabama have been white people? Maybe because that's who's left there!

The mayor of New Orleans, the Governor of Louisiana, and many others have pointed out that the people who ended up staying behind in the New Orleans evacuation were those who could not leave -- the poor, the elderly, and those without transportation. Hmmm... who does that statistically represent in any city in America? How about black people?

The majority of the people in the inner city are black and poor and ended up at the Superdome. "The media" goes to New Orleans and shows us black people. And you have a problem with this? Would you prefer they go to New Orleans and not show black people, the majority of the people left behind?

Would it be better if they adopted some kind of racial quota? "I'm sorry, sir, we can't show you on TV until we find a white person and an Asian, too. We have to be fair and balanced, you know."

The fact is that the majority of people in New Orleans right now are black. You sound like you'd prefer journalists not to show the facts. Should they not show any white people in Gulfport? Maybe they shouldn't interview anyone in Louisiana with a Southern or Cajun accent because those are also sterotypes. "I can't believe how the media try to make people in Louisiana look stupid by only showing Southerners with bad accents."

O.K., I'm ranting. I should get a grip. But I think you should, too. There are people down there doing a damned fine job and busting their asses to report what's going on. If you don't like the job they're doing, turn off the TV; but don't try to pretend you understand what's going on out there because you don't.

Tell me what profession you're in so I can second guess your entire industry based on some half-assed conspiracy theory notion I have rattling around in the back of my head.

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When folks are obtaining food and water from whatever source they can in desperate times, I think they are making wise choices. This isn't looting, it is surviving. Yes, I know, clothes and diamonds etc. is considered looting. But if I were in that situation, would I take food and drink. Probably, yes. And "looting" doesn't have a color.

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2. The photographers don't write the captions, the photo editors do.  One was an AP photo, so the "looting" caption was probably written by an American in Dallas or Atlanta or wherever the nearest AP photo office is.  By the grammar used in the AFP (Agence France Press) photo caption, it was clearly either written in French and poorly translated to English or written by a Frenchman in poor English.  The original poster pretends to know the intent of two different people on different continents who speak different languages in different companies with different customs and different photos and editorial guidelines, and justifies this by lumping these two people together as "the media."  By the same logic I can say "Why doesn't John Kerry stop the war in Iraq?  He's a 'politician' and they're all in it together after all."

Actually, the photographers often write the captions, and then they are "modified" by the photo editors. In cases when copy and photos are pouring in (like now), often the original caption goes out with the photo.

I used to work as a photographer for AP and personally know the guy (yeah, he's white) who shot the AP picture. He's pretty straight up, and the AP goes to great lengths to avoid any kind of stereotyping. If the caption says they were looting, I believe they were looting. And I too believe the AFP caption is probably a poor translation.

That said, if people are taking bread or goods that would otherwise be spoiled, I suppose I can condone it. However, folks that are taking TVs and CDs and most especially guns should be shackled or shot onsite.

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That's horrible.  They are doing the exact same thing!

Anyhow, I'm black and to see the looters grabbing tvs and electronics is shameful and hurtful to our community.  We fight stigmas everyday, and these people don't realize how they are hurting not only others, but themselves. On top of everything, its being played out in front of a national audience.

I agree 100%. This world is still not colorblind and we as a race sometimes have to not act as others might stereoptype us. That has to do with all minorities. It's sad, but it's the truth.

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Photographer explains the "find"

Chris Graythen wrote the caption for his photo of two hurricane survivors with bread and soda. "I believed in my opinion, that they did simply find them, and not 'looted' them in the definition of the word," he writes. "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."

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45&aid=88106

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Ok, in response to this I have to call BS. Let me explain why:

1. All the news stations have interviewed individuals both in New Orleans proper and those that left and a frequent line is I have never left yet including Betsy so I decided to stay. Along with those family members who did leave worrying about those other family members who stayed in order to.... Protect the homestead, etc...

A. So these individuals had the chance to leave but didn't. Black, White, Asian, etc.. is irrelevant.

2. Watching the news prior to Katrina it was all over the news stressing the importance for people to leave, the Mayor of New Orleans was quite literally begging for his city to vacate.

A. Now suppose you lived below sea level in the often used illustration of a Bath Tub. The Mayor, Governor, etc... are stressing the importance of leaving and reaching higher ground.

B. Now these warning were out a couple days prior to landfall so the argument that these people could not leave is BOGUS. Public transportation was still working and could easily spirit you and yours with a few small choice possessions to higher ground or case in point out of the bath tub.

C. Greyhound was running as well. I tried to pull what a fare would have been from New Orleans to Houston however that didn't work. So for a case in point I put from Houston to Dallas one way. The fare was $33 without any discounts. Are you telling me and all of us that the majority of the individuals did not have $33???

D. It seems to me also that the State of Louisiana was assisting with free rides out of the city I could be wrong but I recall hearing about this but this is another avenue out.

3. Now who does this statistically represent in America? You may be right about Black people but why is that? African Americans are no longer the largest minority in the United States this title is now owned by the Hispanic population. I greatly respect and admire this ethnic group due to the fact that they are so grateful for everything they have and for just "Being" here in the United States. They work the jobs White, Black, and Asian don't want to work. They are thrifty and shop for their clothes at thrift stores, their version of going out entails heading to a friend or family members home to pull out the big screen TV and watch a Boxing fight or Soccer match all the while cooking fajitas and drinking cheap beer. We on the other hand still head off to the movie theater to pay $8-10 a ticket plus dinner, popcorn, etc...

Ok that is enough rant from me but I would seriously disagree with you on their opportunity to leave the city and why Black people are so overly represented at the poverty level.

Scharpe St. Guy

The mayor of New Orleans, the Governor of Louisiana, and many others have pointed out that the people who ended up staying behind in the New Orleans evacuation were those who could not leave -- the poor, the elderly, and those without transportation. Hmmm... who does that statistically represent in any city in America? How about black people?

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Ok, in response to this I have to call BS. Let me explain why:

1. All the news stations have interviewed individuals both in New Orleans proper and those that left and a frequent line is I have never left yet including Betsy so I decided to stay. Along with those family members who did leave worrying about those other family members who stayed in order to.... Protect the homestead, etc...

      A. So these individuals had the chance to leave but didn't. Black, White, Asian, etc.. is irrelevant.

2. Watching the news prior to Katrina it was all over the news stressing the importance for people to leave, the Mayor of New Orleans was quite literally begging for his city to vacate.

      A. Now suppose you lived below sea level in the often used illustration of a Bath Tub. The Mayor, Governor, etc... are stressing the importance of leaving and reaching higher ground.

      B. Now these warning were out a couple days prior to landfall so the argument that these people could not leave is BOGUS. Public transportation was still working and could easily spirit you and yours with a few small choice possessions to higher ground or case in point out of the bath tub.

      C. Greyhound was running as well. I tried to pull what a fare would have been from New Orleans to Houston however that didn't work. So for a case in point I put from Houston to Dallas one way. The fare was $33 without any discounts. Are you telling me and all of us that the majority of the individuals did not have $33???

      D. It seems to me also that the State of Louisiana was assisting with free rides out of the city I could be wrong but I recall hearing about this but this is another avenue out.

3. Now who does this statistically represent in America? You may be right about Black people but why is that? African Americans are no longer the largest minority in the United States this title is now owned by the Hispanic population. I greatly respect and admire this ethnic group due to the fact that they are so grateful for everything they have and for just "Being" here in the United States. They work the jobs White, Black, and Asian don't want to work. They are thrifty and shop for their clothes at thrift stores, their version of going out entails heading to a friend or family members home to pull out the big screen TV and watch a Boxing fight or Soccer match all the while cooking fajitas and drinking cheap beer. We on the other hand still head off to the movie theater to pay $8-10 a ticket plus dinner, popcorn, etc...

Ok that is enough rant from me but I would seriously disagree with you on their opportunity to leave the city and why Black people are so overly represented at the poverty level.

Scharpe St. Guy

I guess part of the point I was trying to make is that there are SOME people who COULD NOT leave. I completely agree with you that the majory of the people who stayed were people who were just too ignorant or pigheaded to leave. People who think they're badder than any big storm that might come their way. Now they want our sympathy.

I feel bad for the elderly, the bedridden, the sick, and other in similar straights who COULD NOT leave. They are a very small percentage of the population.

I also think that attitude of "No storm can hurt me" is why it took President Bush to long to get involved. I think he underestimated the magnitude of the storm because he has that sterotypical You-Can't-Hurt-Me attitude that epitomizes the Texas stereotype. I voted for Bush and support him in many fronts, including the war in Iraq. But I wish he would stop living down to the Texas sterotypes.

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II also think that attitude of "No storm can hurt me" is why it took President Bush to long to get involved.

I think many of the people (not all) may have made that same mistake.

Worst, I think the New Orleans Mayor, AND the federal governemt should have called that evacuation days earlier. I think they all underestimated the storm, and had an "we'll wait until it happens, and see what we do from there" attitude.

How can you not have a plan for a worse case senario if that senario is so realistic?

That's like living in San Fransisco and not expecting an earthquake.

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Thanks for the verbose response Editor. I was just gonna say, AP and AFP arent the same thing, so no real comparison.

Not that there isnt plenty of racial slurs being thrown around out there.

Better example from same paper

WHEN DESCRIBING WHITE PEOPLE, ITS "FINDING":

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/photos_...shxwaoma_photo1

Black it's Looting

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/ts/...zhpvj5dd_photo3

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Better example from same paper

WHEN DESCRIBING WHITE PEOPLE, ITS "FINDING":

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/photos_...shxwaoma_photo1

Black it's Looting

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/ts/...zhpvj5dd_photo3

:lol::lol::lol:

Yo, can ANYONE find a picture from yahoo of someone not white "finding" food in a store?

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Editor,

Ok we are on the same page concerning those that could and could not leave New Orleans. I too feel for all those who have been affected by Katrina.

Now about Bush. It should be noted that President Bush is our nations first MBA President or in other words a business style of management. We see this clearly with Iraq and Afghanistan where unlike President's before him who wanted to personally plan each bombing mission or any mission period. President Bush is a manager who tasks those with specific expertise, experience, and knowledge to devise a plan and work the problem. If they need more resources or troops all they have to do is ask and as the White House and Bush have said if the Generals request more troops they will have them.

This management style does not work every time however I personally support this style over that of just throwing money and people at any and all problems with no plan in place which results in waste of resources and time however this latter style provides political/press cover as no one can say that ____ didn't do/provide ____.

Now since everyone knew it was a Cat 5 Storm and that damage would be afflicted somewhere on the Gulf Coast I would have expected that the President or those in charge would have deployed naval ships and troops on the fringe ready to jump to action shortly after landfall. This undoubtedly would have resulted in better organization and less loss of life.

20/20 rear view is always so clear...

Scharpe St. Guy

I guess part of the point I was trying to make is that there are SOME people who COULD NOT leave.  I completely agree with you that the majory of the people who stayed were people who were just too ignorant or pigheaded to leave.  People who think they're badder than any big storm that might come their way.  Now they want our sympathy.

I feel bad for the elderly, the bedridden, the sick, and other in similar straights who COULD NOT leave.  They are a very small percentage of the population. 

I also think that attitude of "No storm can hurt me" is why it took President Bush to long to get involved.  I think he underestimated the magnitude of the storm because he has that sterotypical You-Can't-Hurt-Me attitude that epitomizes the Texas stereotype.  I voted for Bush and support him in many fronts, including the war in Iraq.  But I wish he would stop living down to the Texas sterotypes.

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Editor,

Ok we are on the same page concerning those that could and could not leave New Orleans. I too feel for all those who have been affected by Katrina.

Now about Bush. It should be noted that President Bush is our nations first MBA President or in other words a business style of management. We see this clearly with Iraq and Afghanistan where unlike President's before him who wanted to personally plan each bombing mission or any mission period. President Bush is a manager who tasks those with specific expertise, experience, and knowledge to devise a plan and work the problem. If they need more resources or troops all they have to do is ask and as the White House and Bush have said if the Generals request more troops they will have them.

This management style does not work every time however I personally support this style over that of just throwing money and people at any and all problems with no plan in place which results in waste of resources and time however this latter style provides political/press cover as no one can say that ____ didn't do/provide ____.

Now since everyone knew it was a Cat 5 Storm and that damage would be afflicted somewhere on the Gulf Coast I would have expected that the President or those in charge would have deployed naval ships and troops on the fringe ready to jump to action shortly after landfall. This undoubtedly would have resulted in better organization and less loss of life.

20/20 rear view is always so clear...

Scharpe St. Guy

Much of what you say is so very true.

I should point out that I'm probably not the best person to point out flaws in other people's management abilities, as I am a fairly inept manager of other people. But I do know there are times when my people need stuff and fail to ask me. I think that's what happened here, too. I think a good manager anticipates that sort of thing and deals with it before it becomes a problem. Again, I am not a good manager, and I don't think it's productive to debate the President's management skills.

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Much of what you say is so very true.

I should point out that I'm probably not the best person to point out flaws in other people's management abilities, as I am a fairly inept manager of other people. But I do know there are times when my people need stuff and fail to ask me.  I think that's what happened here, too.  I think a good manager anticipates that sort of thing and deals with it before it becomes a problem.  Again, I am not a good manager, and I don't think it's productive to debate the President's management skills.

While you did not ask for the ultimate manager's job, the president did. So, yes, absolutely it is appropriate to debate his management skills. In fact, it is vital, if we are to avert humanitarian crises like this one in the future.

This is not our last big hurricane. Experts who study the patterns suggest the US is going through a period of increased activity similar to the 50s and 60s. There are also suggestions that they may be more intense due to the increased temperature of the water in the Gulf. So, the Feds need to be on a fast learning curve, because we will have these disasters again.

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5. Try really hard to remove this phrase from your lexicon: "The Media."  There is no "The Media."  It's just a phrase invented by politicians so they have someone to blame when they get busted.  It came into vogue about the time that the Clinton scandals started and his defenders needed to deflect attention from the problem of presidential scandal so they blamed "the media."  There is no giant media conspiracy.  Reporters, editors, publishers, producers, et.al. are highly competitive and when they talk to each other they rarely talk shop.  With the exception of extraordinary circumstances all newsrooms operate completely independently of each other.  It's not unusual for some lazy person who wants the number for a TV station or newspaper or radio station to call the first madia outlet they come to in the phone book and ask for the number of the place they're actually trying to get in touch with.  You know what these people are always told?  "Look it up; that's what we'd do."  Most newsrooms don't even have the phone numbers for the other newsrooms.  If you think there's some big "media conspiracy" to change the way people think, then congradulations -- your way of thinking has already been changed by another conspiracy.

Sometimes it takes people who don't have a stake in things to be able to step back and analyze the situation. For example, I think a journalist would be pretty unqualified to talk about "the media" the same way a soldier is probably not the person to be discussing the role of the military in some societies v. others in an anthropological sense. Do you see what I'm saying? Sometimes our judgment is clouded by emotion as we seek to defend our livelihoods.

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Sometimes it takes people who don't have a stake in things to be able to step back and analyze the situation.  For example, I think a journalist would be pretty unqualified to talk about "the media" the same way a soldier is probably not the person to be discussing the role of the military in some societies v. others in an anthropological sense.  Do you see what I'm saying?  Sometimes our judgment is clouded by emotion as we seek to defend our livelihoods.

I understand what you're saying, but it's not always correct.

For example, sometimes outside think tanks are good at analyzing government organizations and coming up with ways to do things better.

But then, we've probably all heard about outside consulting firms that spend a week at a company and decide how it can do things "better" and end up messing up the whole company because they have little or no experience in the field.

I don't work in chicken processing. But that doesn't make me qualified to step back and analyze how it's done and second-guess people with decades of experience in the field.

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I'm not talking about analyzing how things are done specifically, I mean analyzing the role of things in a much broader sense. For example, I wouldn't ask a chicken plant worker about the impact of meat on the economy, or the rise of meat-eatnig in agricultural societies. In the same way, I would be wary of a jorunalist saying things like "there is no The Media" when in the much larger sense (in terms of the effect media has in representing things within a larger framework of values) there very clearly is a Media. Probably not some backroom conspiracy, true, but there is a Media.

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