Surviving an Assault by the Press

Watching some of my colleagues doggedly pursue the story that, predictably, has come to be called “the Kennedy rape” puts me in mind of Oscar Wilde’s famous description of a fox hunt: “the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable.”

It is, of course, unsurprising to find the tabloid press engaged in such a chase. These are, after all, men and women who habitually wander the professional wasteland between the inexplicable (“Two-headed Space Alien Weds Elvis Clone”) and the inexcusable (“Mother Teresa Bore Liberace’s Love Child”).

What surprises and, more important, disturbs about this case is the behavior that it has engendered in the usually serious press: the New York Times, the Des Moines Register and NBC television. Their decisions to publish the names of the woman who claims rape and the young man she says attacked her is worse than simply coarse and unworthy.

In this instance, one of two things has already occurred: Either a woman who has suffered a particularly intimate form of violent assault has had her injury compounded by the destruction of her privacy, or a young man falsely accused has been needlessly put under a cloud of suspicion that may linger for the rest of his life.

Mary and John are two people with a firsthand understanding of what that could mean. Mary (not her real name) is a woman in her early 20s. Four years ago, she was raped. Her attacker never was caught. About the same time, John (not his real name) was falsely accused of rape by a woman who hoped to extort money from him. He was ultimately exonerated but only after months of agonizing uncertainty and tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. Both victims, Mary and John, still live in fear of publicity.

Mary: “I don’t think that a rape victim’s name ever should be revealed in this way--before a trial--without her permission. That’s because our society still thinks of rape as a sexual crime, and that stigmatizes people involved. I don’t think that rape victims should feel like they have to hide anything. But it really violates the victim’s rights for somebody else to decide that for her.”

John: “From the moment the charge was made, my exclusive emotion was fear. It was fear for my life. I couldn’t believe anyone had said I’d done such a thing. It seemed like the worst thing in the world. I was terrified of the impact exposure might have on my professional career. I knew I was innocent and so did my wife and family. But my concern was that my firm, even if it believed in my innocence, would think association with me was a risk not worth taking. In a totally pragmatic sense, I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to afford the legal counsel I needed if I lost my job.”

Mary: “People have the misconception that rape is mainly about a sexual invasion of privacy. To me it’s really about brutality and torture and going through something where you really have to face death and survive it. It’s really about one person dominating and humiliating another with his anger. To me, it’s an attempt by that person to turn the victim into an object, into an animal, much as a prisoner of war is treated. So, to me rape is not a sexual crime but a violation of human rights. I don’t think the first thing on the minds of people who read or hear about a rape is the reality of that brutality or a sense of your loss of human rights. I think the old-fashioned way of thinking about this--the one most people still have--is all about sex. Dealing with that can be hell, and putting a person’s name out there can mean they’re going to have to face even more hell.”

John: “I was brought up to treat others with consideration and respect. What this woman alleged I did violated just about everything I believe in, everything I was ever taught. Sexual battery is the worst form of disrespect you could show to another individual. People, even those who know you, have a bad habit of assuming guilt whenever they hear an accusation made. You may be proven innocent, but it is very difficult to change those initial impressions, especially if they’re formed through the press. If my name had been published in that way, it would have been a cause for almost unbearable humiliation and shame.”

Mary: “You know, it’s no fun to be a victim. Publicity would have made it all much harder for me just because it would have increased the number of people who thought of me that way. I don’t think I would have been able to deal with the thought that in my future, everyone I knew, everyone I went to school with, everyone I worked with would possibly be thinking about that. That’s not something you want to live with. If it had happened to me, I think I would have gone crazy. Your name is who you are; it goes on forever. If you take that away from somebody, you can’t ever give it back to them.”

John: “Soon after I was arrested, I began to think of killing myself. I thought that if this woman could have convinced the authorities that her charges were true, wasn’t it possible that everyone else would believe her, too. After all, the police and the district attorney are only supposed to prosecute people they honestly believe are guilty. For several months, I thought of nothing but suicide. If at that moment, there had been a story in the newspaper about my case, it surely would have pushed me over the edge.”

I asked both John and Mary what they thought of arguments that editors and news directors have an obligation under the First Amendment not to withhold information and that, ultimately, future rape victims will benefit if the crime committed against them is treated no different than any other?

John: “When I stand back from things, I have to accept that, even in my own case, the press has an absolute constitutional right to report on these things. But, ethically, I think they should withhold the identities of both the victim and the person accused until there is a legal decision about guilt or innocence. Whatever the press may intend, not to do that undercuts the accuser’s right to privacy and the accused’s right to a presumption of innocence. Those are also constitutional rights, you know.”

Mary: “If they were so concerned with making a statement that rape victims should not be treated differently from victims of any other violent crime, why couldn’t they have said, ‘We want to make that point, but we asked the victim and she requested that we not use her name. So, we’re not going to do it.’

“I don’t see what’s so hard about that--if you really care.”