Media Editor at Huffington Post Danny Shea called LAT staffer Andrew Blankstein out by name questioning the ethics (stating that other publications ‘wouldn’t go there’) of naming an assault victim. Namely singer Rihanna – allegedly beat up by her boyfriend Chris Brown.

The whole saga is here.

So because Huffington Post is a stalwart of journalistic principles today they published the photo of Rihanna’s injuries. Then they took it down and just linked to the leaked photo.

When asked about why they came down so hard on the LAT for something they’re clearly guilty of too, Shea told FBLA,”We didn’t give the LA Times a hard time. We just presented the facts. We didn’t make any judgments.”

Uh huh.

Neither do we.

Previous stuff on the case. And here.

Media Editor the Huffington Post, Danny Shea, taking a tip from Jossip‘s David Hauslaib, decided that naming singer Rihanna as an assault victim of Chris Brown‘s wasn’t journalistic. Wasn’t ethical? Wasn’t what they teach in the ol’ j-school. So Shea called the staffer than penned the piece Andrew Blankstein, and he actually picked up the phone.

Blankstein attempted to explain the LAT policy and said something to the effect that it’s sexual assault victims aren’t usually named to protect their privacy. This translated into a ‘look she wasn’t raped’ type quote – put succinctly in the phrase “fair game” and put in 70-point print at the top of the Media Section on Huffington Post.

As for what one learns in j-school, Blankstein said,”They teach you not to re-report other people’s stories.” And continued,”Look, I’m not an internet snob.”

As for naming the assault victim – famous and adored or not – that’s the way news is reported.

“He obviously doesn’t read the metro section.” Blankstein said of Shea.

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