Reporting boundaries?

In the middle of rescue operations to save lives, I don’t think he ought to distract authorities to protect a flooded supermarket. He was grandstanding.

The twitter reaction was appropriate.

Where does it stop? We all saw footage of looters carrying TV’s, etc in the aftermath of Katrina.
And if someone steals food that has gone bad, will they sue?
People have gotten so judgmental and aren’t afraid to say anything that comes into their brain.

He did nothing wrong.

Meh…really not significant. He wasn’t “snitching” IMO if the people in question had their faces covered. Not significant in the grand scheme of things but hardly worthy of chopping Mr. Llamas’ head off over. I agree that people taking desperately needed supplies is not the same thing as actually “looting” but..why cover your face if you feel justified? So he reported what he saw, so what?

It seems like maybe it was a thoughtless misunderstanding? I really don’t judge desperate and needy people for taking supplies they need in an emergency. That food will spoil and be unsellable anyway so it may as well be put to use. However, it doesn’t seem like he “called” the police as some believed, but rather he mentioned it in passing to ones he was already speaking to. It doesn’t seem like anyone was or will be arrested for this…

There was also a story where a bereaved mother started cursing out a reporter for trying to capitalize on filming people at their worst. There’s a lose-lose situation here. On one hand, reporters are going to swarm in on this in attempt to cover the latest and let people know what’s going on as they always do, but at the same time they are going to be seen as exploiting a tragedy. And the fact is, reports about looting are often exaggerated and they make the situation worse (by causing people to stay in their homes when they shouldn’t and fear going out when they should).

Regardless of whether the people taking unpurchased goods from a market are “hungry” or “victims” or not, masked looters are frequently shot by vigilantes or by the property owners themselves. So while he may have gotten some “hungry bandit victims” in trouble with the law (or not; maybe their actions were simply postponed or slightly curtailed or redirected to softer targets), he may also have saved some lives.

@CWOTUS Agree. A woman taking baby formula and a pack of diapers is not the same as someone looting all the booze in the store. If you’re wearing a mask to conceal your identity it’s pretty certain you’re a thug.
Just because there is a disaster doesn’t give people carte blanche to steal just because they figure they can get away with it.

Gosh. I think that is one time I’d just stay quiet. The looting is about number 100 on the list off problems they have.