For what it is worth,
Yahoo has issued a statement about this.
Apparently, the two photos, and the captions came from two completely different news organizations. The "white" photo, and caption, came from
AFP/Getty, while the "black" photo, and caption, came from
the Associated Press.
Had the same person wrote the captions, I could see racism.
But when two different people, at two different news agencies, did it, that's a harder call to make. The different in terms could be due to a number of things: hesitancy on one reporter's part to call taking food in a crisis "looting" vs willingness on the other reporter's part to do so; an editorial edict at one organization that holds you can't accuse someone of a "crime" (such as looting) without a conviction for legal reasons (for a while Rueters referred to Osama Bin Laden as an "alleged terrorist"); etc.
It's an interesting issue and it goes to show how the media's use of language is something that always should be scrutinized.
