Protecting the innocent

Covering trials strikes me as one of the public services a newspaper serves for its readers. We'll keep people abreast of what's happening in their communities, so they can be aware of the dangers and threats around them.

For the first time today, I heard my publication's name directly mentioned in a court proceeding, in a rather unflattering way. It involved a mother whose husband raped their eldest child repeatedly over a four-year period, which made for three days of absolutely stomach-turning testimony late last month.

The mother, while giving a victim impact statement, brought up our paper's coverage of the trial as part of the harassment and trouble her husband's actions caused. She sent a similar letter to the editor of our newspaper about two weeks ago, criticizing our callous coverage of the event and suggesting we should have either skipped the trial or covered it without identifying her husband to "protect the innocent."

The theory is, in a small county like this, that people know one another's parents. While we never used the girl's name (she's still a minor, mind you), using her father's name and address identified her to her peers. She believed we were heartless people who couldn't resist the attention-grabbing story and selling papers.

This bothered me, and still does, for a variety of reasons. Rape is very disturbing to hear about in graphic detail, whether you know the victim or not. It didn't help that this girl had the same name as one of my nieces. I literally had trouble sleeping the week of that trial, and the girl's impact statement nearly brought me to tears as she talked about refusing to give a victim impact statement and instead wanted to give a "survivor impact statement." (And, for those who know me, moving me to tears is not easy.)

I also don't see the sense in protecting the identity of the defendant. He's been convicted of gruesome, horrid acts. There's no reason he should be protected from them.

I understand being angry and confused and perhaps embarassed about this incident. But rape is one of the few crimes in America where we still seem to hold the victim accountable somehow. I don't see how we can ever break through that belief until we begin standing up with the victims and reminding people that they're not guilty of anything. They ARE victims. They deserve the same respect as a victim of a theft, a murder or any other type of assault would get.

Another issue involving this case made it a bit ironic to me. The girl saw an episode of Oprah about rape which helped motivate her to tell someone about what her dad did. Now her family complained about her story coming out at well. I can only hope that her courage can lead to another girl's courage to help end a similar situation. If that happens, I'll proudly accept any insults the family cares to heave at the heartless and thoughtless media coverage.