NY Times Defends Victim Blaming Coverage of Child Rape Case

Pandora Young — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:08:18 +0000

A NY Times story about the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl by 18 men has sparked outrage – and not just at the horrific nature of the crime, but at the paper’s coverage. The NYT article needlessly wrote that the child dressed older than her 11 years, that she wore makeup, that she hung out with teenage boys at a playground. In the case of any rape, how a victim dresses and who she is friends with has no relevance to the crime committed against her.

But despite the public outcry, the NYT remains unapologetic. Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokesperson for the paper, made the following statement to Yahoo! news blog The Cutline:

Neighbors’ comments about the girl, which we reported in the story, seemed to reflect concern about what they saw as a lack of supervision that may have left her at risk. As for residents’ references to the accused having to ‘live with this for the rest of their lives,’ those are views we found in our reporting. They are not our reporter’s reactions, but the reactions of disbelief by townspeople over the news of a mass assault on a defenseless 11-year-old. We are very aware of and sensitive to the concerns that arise in reporting about sexual assault. This story is still developing and there is much to be learned about how something so horrific could have occurred.

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The Cutline - FishbowlLA

NY Times Defends Victim Blaming Coverage of Child Rape Case