Globe publishes name and photo of Kobe's accuser

sugar and spice · #1 10-31-2003, 03:46 PM

The Globe decided to run not only the name of Kobe's accuser, but a picture of her in her prom dress, lifting up her skirt to show off her garter, accompianed by the words "Did she really say no?"

There's an article on salon.com about it:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/200...obe/index.html

I know that we were just discussing the complicated politics of rape in America and I thought this article brought up some relevant and interesting points.

Thoughts?

What do y'all think about naming rape victims in the press? Should it be done?

ThetaPrincess24 · #2 10-31-2003, 03:52 PM

No I dont think so. Most rapes that happen go unreported because people tend to blame the victim........ hence why rape statistics are often inaccurate.

As far as Kobe goes..........I really hope he didnt do it. If he didnt, I hope she gets punished because that wasnt cool. If he did, then I hope he gets severely punished.........there are no excuses for rape at anytime for any reason. NONE. Regardless of a victim's "reputation" or whatever, no one deserves that.

Imthachamp · #3 10-31-2003, 03:56 PM

kobe didnt do it.

that girl is a WHORE.

KSig RC · #4 10-31-2003, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally stated by Ellen Levine
"Why does the man get drawn and quartered while the woman is garbed in a journalistic burka?"

Goose/Gander

bethany1982 · #5 10-31-2003, 04:39 PM

Should a rape "victims" name be published? Yes and no. When the victim first reports the rape, it is a private matter and the victim should remain anonymous. The investigation process should also remain private. However, once charges are brought and the "victim" officially becomes an accuser defended by the people (the state), yes, they should be named. Withholding the name and background information of an accuser from the public, can, at times, hinder the defense of the accused. The accused is innocent until proven guilty and therefore deserves every angle of defense. If withholding the victims name hurts the defense, the accuser should be named. The issue of people blaming the rape victim was a very heated topic discussed in one of my classes last year. Personally, I think (as did the majority of the class) this is more of a perception on the part of a victim rather than a reality. Do you know many people who would automatically blame a rape victim for what happened? I don’t. Not believing an accuser and blaming an accuser are two different things.

DeltAlum · #6 10-31-2003, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Imthachamp
kobe didnt do it.

that girl is a WHORE.

Careful, Champ. You're in a public forum and probably don't want to say anything slanderous, not matter how unlikely it is that the woman would ever hear about or see it.

Bethany, I agree. With the possible exception of minors, I think we can be TOO protective sometimes -- although there may be selected cases where that protection is warranted.

sugar and spice · #7 10-31-2003, 05:34 PM

Personally I feel we need to at least re-evaluate things.

I think that if the accuser is unnamed, then the accused should be unnamed until he is found guilty (and stay unnamed if he is found innocent). Of course this would be somewhat difficult to regulate in cases like this one, where the accused is famous, but in the majority of cases it would help. With luck it would decrease the ramifications if a man was falsely accused of rape and found to be innocent.

I also think that the accuser (I hate the terms "accuser" and "accused" because they remind me so much of the Salem witch trials, but they are the closest to being accurate) should be allowed to choose whether or not she wants to remain anonymous. There are women out there that don't because they want other women who have been raped to be able to put a name and a race to their story and help convince other victims to report the rape. I can see where this would be a slippery slope.

But on the other hand, stuff like this makes me see the need for anonymity -- like they said in the article, for a woman who's been raped this would basically be your worst nightmare. I can't even begin to describe how mad this makes me -- I wonder how many women who are raped will not come forward because of stuff like this.

AXJules · #8 10-31-2003, 06:05 PM

This is such a gray issue.

First, I cannot stand the way journalism operates sometimes. I'm sorry, but how many of us wore garters to our proms? How many of us take crazy pictures with our friends, that taken out of context, could make us look like bad people??? "Did she really say no?" was the sleaziest, most desperate copy they could have come up with.

At the same time, if you read some other columns that have been printed, apparently the girl is kind of a lose cannon when it comes to guys/breakups/drastic measures.....so maybe it does all fit together.....

All I know is that from the view of a rape victim, this would be their worst nightmare....and it makes me so upset to think that this will keep more rapes from being reported...

Someone made a good point though- why are the men quartered while the women are under the blanket of journalism??? Makes you think...

Still, the # of girls that cry rape is something ridiculously low, like 7% or something ( i posted it on here once before, can't find it now.)

Essentially, once the whole story comes out I think the papers have a right to print her name. Sorry it took me a novel to come to that conclusion.

33girl · #9 10-31-2003, 11:23 PM

I agree that the accused should remain unnamed until he is found guilty. That's a better avenue to take than naming the accuser.

swissmiss04 · #10 11-01-2003, 01:32 AM

When this story came out, I sorta felt sick for quite a few reasons...before I say why, here's a story for you...a couple of you know it...A few years ago I was sexually assaulted while under the influence by a so called friend. I never pressed charges. Should I have? Of course. But believe you me, the first few days afterwards are not typically moments of lucidity. At the time, I felt that maybe since I was drunk it didn't "count" as rape, or that maybe he didn't realize I was drunk (I later calculated my BAC was around .45...yeah, as in nearly fatal). I didn't say a word for about a week, and finally I told my best friend about it. He was furious at the guy and at that point I think the severity of the situation hit me. To say I was emotionally f***ed up afterwards is such an understatement. I found out I was pregnant only when I miscarried about 2 weeks later. Talk about a blessing. To this day I regret not "doing something" about it. Not only did I let him get away w/ it, but I actually have class with him. It's a daily struggle.
However, if I had reported him and then found out my name, reputation, etc would be public, I would have hestitated to go through with it. If indeed she is being truthful (and we should all give her the benefit of the doubt as we are the accused) then for the Globe to do that is really, um, illegal, not to mention just wrong morally/ethically speaking. I think in general info such as this needs to be kept in confidence between the authorities and legal representatives. The media has no place in a rape trial, no matter WHO is involved.
And if she isn't telling the truth, I will be the first among many to just absolutely tar and feather her sorry a**.

#11 11-01-2003, 03:33 PM

The reason people sometimes tend to say the victim is blamed is because they say one of these things:

1. Well, she shouldn't have been wearing that provocative outfit, so she asked for it.

2. She shouldn't have been walking at night (to any destination, even if it's her car in a parking lot, etc.)

3. She's sexually active so of course she wanted it.

4. She shouldn't have been at (fill-in-the-blank).

That's why people say the victim tends to be blamed for the rape.

KSigkid · #12 11-02-2003, 09:12 AM

The number of journalism professors/experts that I've talked to in my years as a reporter and student seem to err on the side of caution with rape victims - only in extreme cases would they publish names. Now, this has only been in my experience - in no way enough data to draw a conclusion from this, but I will say that they represented a vast number of prominent newspapers (Boston Globe, New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, etc.).

As AXJules pointed out, the number of women who cry rape is low - too low to use as part of the argument of whether they should be named or not.

It's a tricky issue, I'm not sure if there's any right answer to it. If I were the reporter, I'd like to think I wouldn't publish names - but who knows how I'd feel under pressure from editors, etc. However I think the lengths the Globe went to with it were too far.

mmcat · #13 11-02-2003, 09:34 AM

there is naming names...and there is running the name and the woman's prom picture on the front page of a supermarket tabloid.
a sceaming headline accompanied it.

DeltAlum · #14 11-02-2003, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by KSigkid
The number of journalism professors/experts that I've talked to in my years as a reporter and student seem to err on the side of caution with rape victims - only in extreme cases would they publish names.

Which is the prudent thing to do in almost every case.