Joey Johnson Journal Staff
***TRIGGER WARNING***
In the media frenzy surrounding the controversial Steubenville, Ohio rape case, many people find themselves bashing not the rapists themselves, but the reporters commenting on the story and sometimes sympathizing with two of the boys themselves. And I can’t help but find myself hopping on that bandwagon.
For those unfamiliar with the case, two Steubenville teens were found guilty on Sunday for raping and illegally distributing photographs of a West Virginia girl after she passed out from alcohol intake during a party. Many people in the community came to the defense of the two boys because they were stars of the high school’s football team, and therefore could not have committed such a heinous crime. Of course they could have, they even uploaded a 12-minute YouTube video (Google it if you want to see the lowest form of human) laughing about the incident and calling the girl in question “deader than OJ’s wife.” Someone’s social status never excuses them from committing a crime, and just because they may not have known what they were doing was bad, that does not mean they should not receive punishment.
But members of major press organizations seemed to have forgotten that fact. In a CNN report following the sentencing of the two boys, the reporter on scene almost seemed to feel bad for them. She stated that she found it “incredibly difficult” to watch them be sentenced. She made a point of saying that there was alcohol involved at this party. She chose to point out the fact that these two boys were great students and great athletes before giving news of their sentencing. She inserted a bit of how one of the boys went over and apologized to the family of the young girl. She even went as far as to mention how one boy’s father showed up to the case and hugged him, and said he loved him; something that the defense attorney says he had never heard him say before.
All of what was just listed above is not needed. Absolutely none of it pertains to the main fact that these two boys were sentenced for sexually assaulting a girl. Is it important to say that these were young men? Sure. But they made a conscious decision that night to do something heinous and wrong, and they knew it was wrong. But pushing all of that aside, it is not the job of any journalist to sympathize with them during a news story. Was she allowed to sympathize with them? Sure. But is she allowed to sympathize with them when reporting what should be an objective news story? Not really, no. And the sad thing is multiple major news organizations have reported this story in a similar light to what was just put above, though CNN probably did it the worst. Not to mention, they released the victim’s name on air — something that will surely come with a lawsuit soon enough.
I’m fairly certain a few murderers have wept during their sentencing, but very rarely do we have to point out the fact that their lives were ruined because of their conscious choice to ruin someone else’s. And that’s the exact same treatment these boys should be receiving. The simple fact of the matter is objective, neutral press organizations should not be jumping across the courtroom to pat the back of a convicted criminal and apologize for the situation they consciously put themselves in.
