Rape charges were dropped earlier this month against a man accused of assaulting an employee. In another case, a man accused of date rape was acquitted by jurors who said her story was not credible. At no time did the names of the women bringing the charges appear in The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Even so, the names of the men figured prominently in articles about their cases. In each instance, the newspaper told readers the Union-Tribune does not identify people who say they have been the victims of sex crimes. An exception is when the victim gives permission to use her name. In one case, the victim of a serial rapist insisted that she be identified. Rape has nothing to do with sex but is “an act of terrorism,” she told Union-Tribune columnist Peter Rowe.
Not naming victims without their consent is a policy I support. Yet, it makes me uncomfortable when defendants’ names are printed and rape charges are not proved. Such circumstances underline the newspaper’s obligation to be fair. Not only has the defendant’s name been in the paper, but sometimes his photograph also has been used.
“There is an inherent tilt in the fairness table in the way in which we (newspapers) report on victims and defendants in sexual abuse cases,” said ethicist Robert Steele of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. “We have chosen to do this as journalists in the belief that those who say they are the victims deserve additional and significant protection. When we do this, it places a great responsibility on news organizations to use every other available technique to heighten fairness to a defendant.”
Steele said he would not advocate using an accuser’s name “barring exceptional circumstances,” even when the defendant is acquitted. Such circumstances might include “the revelation that the rape claim was fabricated or there are other very significant legal elements to the case that require revelation of the victim’s name.
“It’s rare, but in some cases the accuser is later charged with filing a false report or fabricating allegations.
“In other cases where a defendant is acquitted and it’s a stranger-rape situation, a defendant’s acquittal does not mean that the accuser is not a victim,” Steele said.
When a jury votes for acquittal, the verdict applies only to the person who was on trial, not the accuser, Steele said. “The accuser may still be a victim,” he said.
If there’s an acquittal or charges are dropped, what does the newspaper owe the defendant? If the story about the accusation is printed, so must an article about the acquittal or dismissal of charges, Steele said. It’s only fair.
“In the industry, we have been very protective of rape victims and haven’t thought enough about the accused,” said Union-Tribune Editor Karin Winner. “I think we need to consider protecting the accused in name as well until it reaches the trial stage, and even then, I’m not sure what would be the most fair,” she said.
Steele said if journalists “do not identify the accuser and only the defendant, we must heighten our fairness to the defendant through other means. We must ensure that the tone and the proportion of our reporting is reasonable, accurate and contextual. We must make sure that any stories about the arrest, the charges and the pre-trial and the trial process are non-judgmental. We must honor the philosophy that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty.”
After the death of CHP officer Stephen M. Linen Jr., reader Merrill Milner asked why news of his death at the hands of a suspected intoxicated driver appeared on the front page while stories about others who meet similar fates are reported in the local section.
“It seems to me that anyone who gets killed by a drunk driver should get the same kind of notoriety,” Milner wrote in an E-mail. “What they do shouldn’t matter.”
But it does, I responded. The death of anyone at the hands of an intoxicated driver is tragic, but what elevated Officer Linen’s death to the front page was that he died in the line of duty. He was a public servant, working for the good of others.
It also was noteworthy that his death was the second of an Oceanside-based CHP officer under similar circumstances in less than a year.
“Your reasoning is fair.” Milner wrote in a second E-mail. “Mine is to bring about more awareness of drunk driving. I believe that sticking it on page two or three of the local news section won’t get it done, but put it on the front page, and then there’s less of a likelihood that a person can miss it.”
Milner contends that by making more people aware of drunk drivers, those with cell phones can help apprehend them. “Surely, there must have been other drivers who saw this man driving erratically, and if they had called the CHP about him, don’t you think that Stephen Linen would still be alive today?”
