It wasn’t a big story — about six column inches inside Tuesday’s Utah section. It explained that a former American Fork High teacher’s aide admitted to having sexual relations with a 16-year-old former student. The 44-year-old woman pleaded guilty to two counts each of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse and third-degree felony unlawful sexual contact with a 16- or 17-year-old.
The relationship between the woman and boy began two years ago when the pair worked together in a drama production, the story said. It progressed as the woman continued coaching the boy in drama and as they worked together in church functions.
A Salt Lake City man wanted to know why this was not rape and, furthermore, why the absence of a rape charge wasn’t mentioned in the story. As far as he is concerned, The Salt Lake Tribune had “softened” the news story because the perpetrator is a woman and, therefore, is guilty of a lesser crime than if the offense had been committed by a man.
“If the [genders] were reversed if this were a male teacher’s aide and a 16-year-old girl — would you call it sexual relations? Hell no! Why is it always rape when a man is [the accused], but not when it’s a woman?” he asked.
To back up his point, the caller cited as an example a story in that same day’s Tribune, which said Salt Lake City police were looking for two men suspected of raping a 19-year-old woman in Liberty Park.
First, “rape” and/or “forcible sexual abuse” are legal terms. These are not words pulled from the air by reporters. They are, in fact, what the charges are: “forcible sexual abuse” in the case of the teacher’s aide and alleged “rape” in the other story.
Forcible sexual abuse, as defined by Utah Criminal Code, occurs when a person “commits forcible sexual abuse if the victim is 14 years or older and, under circumstances not amounting to rape . . . or attempted rape.”
Rape is defined as “sexual intercourse with another person without the victim’s consent.”
Notice that these definitions do not make reference to perpetrator’s or the victim’s gender.
“It is possible for a woman to be found guilty of rape of a child. Having sex with someone 14 and younger, even with consent, is rape because a person 14 and younger is deemed too young to give consent,” explained Salt Lake District Attorney James Cope. “I cannot say how they do things in Utah County, but if the victim in this case is over the age of 14 and consented, then [the woman] would not be charged with rape.”
If you have stayed with me this far, you ought to have concluded that the point here is this: Even if the caller is convinced that courts tend to find sexual misconduct by women less serious than the same committed by men, The Tribune’s obligation is to report the charges as they are made in court documents or allegations in police reports. A reporter cannot deem it to be “rape” when the official charge is “forcible sexual abuse.”
I was not able to learn if the caller read the entire story. If he had, he would have noted that the woman’s conduct with the young boy was judged to be a serious offense. She faces up to 15 years imprisonment on each of the second-degree felonies, and up to five years on the third-degree offense when she is sentenced on Aug. 1.
Underplaying newsworthy events: Several readers expressed concern about the lack of international news on the front page of The Tribune. Two individuals, in particular, said this was quite apparent a week ago Saturday when the story about the suicide bomber who detonated explosives at a disco in Tel Aviv, Israel, killed 18 and injured scores of others was inside the paper, on Page A-5.
One of the callers was puzzled that someone at this newspaper could believe that the probability of ballroom dancing being an Olympic sport was deemed more newsworthy and given front-page status.
“Sadly, a bombing in Israel these days is mayhem dujour.” said Tribune Editor James E. Shelledy. “We had a front-page photo of the aftermath. For those interested in the gory details, there was a story inside.”
Because editors and readers often disagree as to what should or should not be on the front page, there is no easy answer for this issue. This is one of those areas where folks will have to agree to disagree.
The Tribune is for the most part a regional newspaper, and editors do highlight local issues on the front page. Some readers applaud that effort because they want to know what is going on in their community. Others see it simply as ingrained parochialism and are urging the paper to give readers more of a “world view” on a variety of issues. Both points are valid. Alas, the challenge for editors is finding a way of meeting some of readers’ many expectations.
