Determination
106
Minnesota
News Council
In the Matter of the Complaint of
Anonymous juvenile incest victim against
the Wabasha County Herald
A 17-year-old incest victim attended the hearing to
press her complaint. Accompanying her were her mother and her therapist,
Sandy Garry of Winona. Representing the Wabasha County Herald were
Michael Smith, editor, and Gary Stumpf, publisher.
Complaint:
The complainant contended that the July 12, 1995, story about her
father's sentencing:
- invaded her privacy when it identified the victim
of the sexual assaults as the convicted man's minor daughter (she
is his only daughter), and
- was sensational and revictimized her by publishing
graphic details of the abuse she endured.
Response of the news organization:
The paper said it could not serve the truth if it left out the details
of the crime and the relationship of the offender to the victim. If
it did so, the paper said, it would be abandoning its responsibility
to the community. The editor said he believed that by fully reporting
the incest the paper would discourage others from committing the crime
for fear of publicity. Smith said that the paper had been very sensitive
to the well-being of the girl by choosing not to run a story when
the man was charged with the crime a year before his sentencing.
Discussion:
The girl told the Council that when she finally told the secret of
her abuse, after eight years, she felt a great weight lift off of
her, "until a week later when I saw the article on the front
page. It totally tore me apart knowing that I had gone so far and
for what? To have the whole town know, detail by detail, what my father
did to me?
"Because of the article I feel that everybody
is looking at me and isn't seeing me... but somebody who had sex with
her father.... After the article... everybody [at work] would be staring
at me and whispering.... I believe that... people will think that
I had some part [in] what my father did to me."
Sandy Garry, the girl's therapist, said that the paper
had indeed revictimized her. She said it could have warned the girl
that it was about to publish a story, could have consulted professionals
to ask how best to deal with the information, and could have accompanied
the article with a story about sex abuse, about the dynamics of the
problem and about how to help victims. She said that the girl was
vulnerable because she had not yet accepted the idea that she bore
no blame for the abuse.
Both the girl and her therapist denied that the paper's
actions would discourage perpetrators, as the editor claimed. The
girl said that "as a victim I know that it would instead be used
by the offender as a threat to keep the victim from telling."
Garry said that, from her experience in working with offenders, threat
of exposure would not alter their behavior or their decision to offend.
Mike Smith, the Herald's editor, said that he faced
a very difficult decision: the paper couldn't both tell the truth
and minimize harm. He believed he had to state the relationship between
the victim and the offender to communicate the seriousness of the
offense, and to give all the details of the crime because the sentence
- one year instead of the 13 the sentencing guidelines call for, plus
30 years' probation - was so lenient.
He said "In my opinion, if you didn't do anything
wrong, you have no reason for shame." Public member Terry Thompson,
vice president of PR at Pillsbury, took exception: "To say that
if there is no wrongdoing there is no shame is ignoring the reality
that the victim does feel guilt and shame."
As to the complaint of sensationalism, Smith said
that he printed exactly what was in court documents to prevent sensationalism
and to circumvent gossip in the community about what had happened
in the family. The serious nature of the crime made it a front-page
story in the community of 2,488, he said the headline was not an unusual
size and the story was treated like any other felony story.
When the family complained about the story, the editor
drafted (as a proposed settlement of the complaint) an explanation
to them and to readers on the reasons for writing the story as the
Herald did. Smith said he was trying to tell the community that the
family was a victim and to encourage the community to reach out to
them. He showed the family the draft; they asked that it not be published,
calling it insincere and self-serving because it expressed regret
that the girl felt harmed but did not acknowledge that the paper could
have done anything differently.
Council members asked the editor and publisher about
other ways they might have written the story. Kate Stanley, Star Tribune
editorial writer, asked if they had considered identifying the victim
as "a relative." Gary Stumpf, the publisher, said that all
relatives would then be suspect. She asked if he really wanted the
victim identified and he said yes. Stumpf believed that leaving out
the details of the crime or the relationship of the victim to the
perpetrator would have been misleading and inaccurate, and that the
public had a right to know the seriousness of the crime. (The editor
said the Herald does not name rape victims, and if the perpetrator
had been a juvenile it would not have reported any names.)
Syl Jones, media member, pointed out that the issue
was power. "The victim had no power [in the acts that abused
her]. You've taken the power away from her again," by not consulting
her or the family before printing the story. Council members asked
who had been consulted before publication, and the editor and publisher
said that they had spoken to each other and the prosecutor, who had
urged full disclosure. They did not speak to the family, or to a mental
health therapist, or seek a woman's perspective. Smith said he had
all the information he needed and had only a weekend to write the
story. Jones disagreed, "You had a year," he said, referring
to the fact that the father had been charged a year earlier.
Council members asked the girl what she thought the
Herald was going to write. She said she was not prepared for the details.
She said that at first she wanted the case kept secret, but now she
wants to help others.
Council member Kate Parry, political editor of the
Pioneer Press, said it was important to know the nature of the assault
because it called into question the judge's lenient sentence, which
is a community issue. Public member Dorothy LeGrand, an attorney,
asked the editor why, if the punishment did not fit the crime, that
part of the story did not receive more prominence. The girl explained
that she had asked for a lenient sentence so her father could receive
counseling sooner. The newspaper did not report that.
Determination
The Council choose not to vote on invasion of privacy or sensationalism,
but after discussion decided that the paper had been insensitive to
the girl. Members suggested that the paper should have consulted others
in developing the story and could have talked with the family before
printing it to prepare them. Syl Jones urged them to think not only
of journalistic standards, but also community standards.
Concurring: Barkelew, Hoben, Jones, Kostouros,
LeGrand, Pumarlo, Reeder, Sellers, Smith, Stanley, Thompson, Wicks
Dissenting: Handberg, Parry
Abstaining: Pine (acting chair)
The Council also voted unanimously to recommend that
the paper create guidelines for covering sexual abuse cases, consulting
with outsiders, including counselors and victims.
NOTES:
- The Council has received a number of complaints
about the identification of juvenile incest victims recently and
it commended the girl for her courage in coming forward to allow
the discussion to take place.
- The girl requested anonymity at the end of the
hearing. The Council agreed to preserve her anonymity in its news
releases. The Council decided not to ask other outlets not to use
her name, but to use its own news release as an example.
- News coverage of this case avoided any mention
of the girl's name or of the family name. This included the story
in the Wabasha County Herald.
- Shortly after this determination, two major news
outlets ran a story identifying another 17-year-old victim of incest.
She wanted to be identified, saying that her recovery had progressed
to the point where she was strong enough to demand accountability
from her abusers, who were her parents. This case illustrated a
point made by the therapist, Sandy Garry, who said that news organizations
should decide each case on its merits and that sometimes publication
of a victim's name helps the victim. She advised news organizations
to talk with victims, families and therapists to determine the merits.
August 24, 1995
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