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OUR OPINION: Naming victims in rape cases

makes women reporting crime even more unlikely




Naming rape victims not necessary

By T&D Staff Writer

Her name and details about Kobe Bryant's accuser are surfacing daily in mass media, even though this newspaper, most other newspapers and major news organizations have policies against identifying rape victims.

Until comparatively recent times, there were laws in most states against naming rape victims. While South Carolina's law has not been repealed by the Legislature, it has been rendered moot by high court decisions against prior restraint. In other words, if media legally gather the information, there is nothing government can do to prevent reporting it.

A syndicated radio show host and tabloid publisher are among those defending identifying the woman who accused the Los Angeles Lakers star of rape. The woman's name has been on the radio in at least 60 cities and posted on various Internet sites.

Arguments for identifying her are not without some merit.

The Globe, a supermarket tabloid, published a picture of what it said was the accuser on the front page of editions that hit newsstands July 25. The picture has a black strip over the woman's eyes. Editor Candace Trunzo defended the use of the photo and the two-page profile of the woman, which the tabloid did not name.

"The accusations of sexual assault against Kobe Bryant is a newsworthy matter of tremendous public interest," Trunzo said. "The Globe is a national news tabloid."

Syndicated talk radio host Tom Leykis says he revealed the name of the woman because he doesn't believe "you can have a fair trial where you know the name of one person and not the other."

Leykis, whose Los Angeles-based show deals with sexual topics, named the 19-year-old Colorado woman while on the air July 22. This is not the first time Leykis has revealed the name of an alleged victim of a sex crime. He identified the accusers in cases involving sportscaster Marv Albert and Seattle schoolteacher Mary Kaye LeTourneau.

Leykis said he would continue to identify any adult involved "in any case that people are interested in."

Their defenders also point to the need for American society to get beyond attaching a stigma to sexual assault victims, treating them like the victims of any other serious crime.

Let's get real.

First, the tabloid is simply trying to cash in on the Byrant case (and not using her name does not excuse them from identifying her via photographs and other information). Secondly, the talk show host, even in being consistent, is outside the mainstream. There remains a difference in identifying the victim of a sex crime and the victim in just about any other circumstance.

Testament to the reality of sex crimes are statistics on the number going unreported. The National Crime Victimization Survey of 1994 indicates that of the 432,750 rapes/sexual assaults reported by respondents, only 32 percent were reported to police. The highest category of victimization not reported was attempted rape - 80.4 percent.

Rather than looking for ways to name victims, most media, including The Times and Democrat, are far more conservative in 2003 than ever before in making such identification.

Time was that a crime, accident or incident story was not complete without the name of victims. Readers even assumed that if a victim was not identified, he or she must be getting some kind of special treatment.

In this day of increased concerns about privacy - from your house to the courthouse - the standard for naming victims has changed. In most cases, there is not compelling reason to identify. That changes if the identity is crucial to the news elements in the story, i.e. the victim is a public official or public figure, or the victim is critically or fatally injured (since loss or threat to life itself is the ultimate news element).

The name of Kobe Bryant's accuser is far less relevant than the accusation she makes and the ultimate determination of its truth or lack thereof. Treating her just as any another rape victim is appropriate. To do otherwise is to reinforce the reasoning of women in not wanting to come forward in rape cases.

The bottom line is their willingness to do so is more important in most cases than any public need to know the identity of the accuser, at the very least until the case is resolved.

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