An issue that is on my mind today is in reference to this school shooting in Colorado. A man walked into a high school classroom and took hostages. He quickly released the guys and some of the girls. He kept six girls in the classroom with him. He ended up shooting one of them before killing himself.
The issue I have here is with the consistency of the media. The media has reported now that the man “molested all of the six girls and sexually assaulted at least two of them.” I am wondering why the media needed to mention that the girls were molested. Was that significant to the story?
Traditionally, the media does not report the name of a rape victim (Although there are some exceptions to that now). They also don’t report the name of a suspect or victim if they are under age. All this is done in the name of protecting the victim.
I realize that the media is not currently releasing the names of the victims. But the reality is that if the media was so interested in protecting the privacy of victims, they would have not printed that the man molested them. In this particular case, all of their friends will know who they are and that they were molested.
In a typical rape case, all their friends wouldn’t know. But in this case every single person in the school is going to know the identity of the six girls. And yet the media reported this fact.
The main story here is that the man went into a school. He took 6 hostages and he killed one of the girls before killing himself. The rest is no one else’s business.
Was it appropriate for the media to release the information about the girls being molested?
Comments (121)
The media rarely handles anything appropriately!!
Sure. theyrelease information about everythng else…
Probably not.
But as the above people state. This is the media, they’re itching to release anything.
i don’t think it was appropriate unless they had the consent of the girls/parents
but, the news is so sensationalized. they don’t report positive things because they don’t generate as much interest. i guess that’s kind of sick on our behalf since they’re trying to cater to us
No, but it’s the media…they don’t really handle anything appropriately anymore.
No.
I don’t think that information should have any negative effect on the girls.
when did the media handle stuff like they were supposed to???
i thought molesting and assulting were the same…guess not
Kelly
The main story is that he sexually assaulted the girls. The deaths seem like perfunctory afterthoughts.
No, it wasn’t. Especially if the guy had already killed himself, because there was nothing else to do about it. The man couldn’t have been charged with anything.
Absolutely not.
no, its very embaressing for the girls involved, and I doubt they would want the entiie school and nighborhood and now the country to know about them being raped or molested.
er… not really?
Not at all
Eh, don’t get me started on the media. Um…too late…
The media in the US is totally out of control, and very rarely troubles itself with whether or not a story is appropriate or not. Why the heck is our media so twisted and evil? Is it:
A – Because the viewing audience is full of twisted, evil people who want to hear about the girls that were held at gunpoint and molested, so that they can feel some sort of righteous anger at the man responsible.
B – Because liberal thinkers have taken the freedom of press too far, going from the ability to say things the government or society doesn’t want them to say to some twisted responsibility to do so.
C – Because people in general don’t know when to keep their respective noses out of other people’s business.
D – Because people in general have an instictive desire to stick their nose in your business, and make sure that everyone else knows what your business is.
E – All of the above.
Not without permission from the girls’ parents…or the girls themselves for that matter.
NO! THe media is always doing things like that…they need to stay out of other peoples lives, especially things like that.
of course i need to know, then if they have abortions i realy need to know.
I think permission should have been sought before that was ever mentioned. The media is seldom able to be controlled.
Of corse not! Because now they’re marked as. “those girls that got molested by that guy.” I wouldn’t wanna be known like that.
No I don’t think so. I think it just puts more hate on the killer. Just another thing to hype up the audience.
No
No way.
no, that’s completely appropriate
no
*agrees with first comment*
How very, very sad.
I think you are right on this one. The media is in the wrong.
No… if the a girl wanted people to know she would tell… but it’s no ones business to be telling people of something as great of an impact about someone like they did…
Leave
C’mon, this is the media. You wouldn’t expect anything less.
No, but how does the media get a hold of that information? I would’ve thought that would be kept private between authorities and the victims?
sure why not? i don’t see why it matters
They should’ve thought of that. And I never heard that they were raped, I assumed that it might have happened but since I didn’t hear anything about it I’m wondering if the media made that up.
And did he even have a bomb? I heard he walked into the office and said he had a bomb. That must be the most overused phrase ever.
No it was not appropriate, but when does the media do what is appropriate? The media is for sensationalism. They love stories like this because they know it will attract viewers who normally would not watch their piddly broadcasts. This is the same media that sticks the microphone in the faces of families who just suffered a tragedy and ask them “How do you feel?” I am waiting for the day when that family member crams that microphone down the throat of the reporter.
I totally agree.
hey cappuccino! can you stop bringing up abortion cuz this is like the billionth time uve brought it up and its really boring. and change ur profile pic. and i dont care about what the media does cuz ur site is pretty much a smaller version of the media and you always hate it when people critize you and tell you what to do about ur xanga, but please change your profile pic, haha.
peace max
i think it would be more appropriate if they said what he had for lunch, or breakfast
Well if you put it that way.. no it wasn’t. But you know the media…they like the make the story more “interesting”.
if the girls were ok with it.
I think it was up to the girls and parents of the girls if they wanted people knowing that kind of information.. It really depends on how they felt. Afterall, it happened to them. Their bodies, their lives, their humilation and their pain..It should 100% be up to the victim and what they want.
nope
I agree with you here, Dan. Not appropriate. Further annoying is the fact that if one news source mentions it, they will all feel compelled to follow suit, so as not to be ‘outdone’ by the other stations. Blech.
And on an only semi-related subject: I would have absolutely taken that guy out. Not just because I’m a black belt in Tae Kwondo. I’ve always thought there are plenty of times (with an armed person) in which a black belt would be useless. But if there was only one crazy person with a gun, I would have found a way to get that weapon away from him while he was otherwise occupied. . . Which is easy for me to say, not having been there. . . Which just brings us back full circle to how this info shouldn’t have been publicized. I really feel bad for everyone involved.
I imagine if I were one of those girls, I would not want that information made public.
NO. Not at all. That’s awful.
What I want to know is what is the difference between sexual molestation and sexual assault.
I don’t really think it should be released, this is very sad to me.
What REALLY bothered me is that (I watched it all live) they knew who was in there with him, and they didn’t tell the parents. They just said ‘If parents want to know anything about their children, they’ll come to the middle school.’ What if parents had work, or where somewhere else? What, they just don’t tell someone that their kid is being held hostage?
No. All they had to say was their was 6 girls taken hostage, then say he has killed one then killed hisseslf. Nothing else.
not….really?
No… people don’t understand what it feels like to be those girls. How humilated they feel. Whether or not it should be reported to authorities is a different matter, but no one wants to see their severe emotional and physical trauma all over TV.
No. If he’d escaped, that information might be important to warn the public of what he’s capable of, etc. But the guy is dead, and therefore not a danger to anyone else. The only people that information is relevant to now are the investigators. The media didn’t need to report that to the general public.
I think in the ability to objectively, fairly, fully & honestly report the news, that their job was thorough. However, I agree with you on this.
Hostage takin and armed assaults on schools happen so frequently… you gotta go out and sell it now, what better way than carelessly divulging iinformation irrelevent to the the actual incident or it’s outcome…? Go Media…!!! If it isn’t broadcasting our troop movements during a major war… it’s finding the smallest bit of truth to the story… but hey… they’re just looking and reporting the truth.
The damage is done…only difference the whole world knows about it now….
no, it wasn’t
I wouldn’t want my classmates to know that information about me if I was one of those girls. Mainly, though, I think it is to make the guy seem more dangerous. I don’t believe I’ve heard 100% of the story; however, from the bits that I have heard it sounds like the police stormed the building, spooked the perpetrator, and then he shot the girl that died as she was running away. Maybe the media wants to let everyone know that this guy was not only insane, but a sexual predator as well, in order to make the police look justified in the actions that they took. I am in no way saying that I disagree with their actions, nor am I justifying the media putting this information out.
no. They had no right. They just needed to get their story publicity. But at what price? Now 6 girls are probably embarassed out of their minds!!!!
That’s up to the girls themselves.
The media is going to use this story to demonize online communities like MySpace and Xanga…
no.
That information didn’t need to be released-what are we supposed to hate him worse now that we know, and he’s dead for effing sake!
No way!
Hm. I do think it was unnecessary to mention the fact that they’d been sexually assaulted/molested. But I don’t think that the fact that people know is necessarily a bad thing. If anything, people would be sympathetic towards them, no? Encourage them to find someone to help them work out whatever feelings they’re experiencing?
Hope you are having a good weekend Dan…
I think it was. So what if all the friends of the girls know? It’s not something to be ashamed about. People treat sexual abuse like this horrible stigma that should be hush-hush. HELL no.
If people want to abolish the stigma behind rape and sexual abuse, why is everyone getting so up in arms about the information released?
no.. i think about that every time i find out about something about that. Simply nosy and unnessesary.
Actually, I think it;’s good to get it out in the open. Rape victims usually end up suffering alone, as they feel too ashamed to tell others what happened to them for fear of getting blamed. If it’s out in the open at least these girls will get the proper support from the community to help them get over this huge ordeal.
The media would be expected to report that the guy held them hostage, or if he shot them or beat them up. Why should it be this dirty little secret if he molested them, too? Why no address it out in the open?
Almost nothing the media does these days is appropriate, including this case.
Yes, I think so.
“But the reality is that if the media was so interested in protecting the privacy of victims, they would have not printed that the man molested them.”
I disagree with you. The fact that the girls were molested can’t be seen as “irrelevant” to the story–-reporting this is just telling what happened. Their names might not have been released because their parents requested it, or the girls themselves requested it, but how could the reporters even know that the man did molest them if they weren’t told by someone? I mean, the reporters weren’t in the room with the man and girls, were they? This information was probably disclosed by one of the girls, but the girls also probably chose to remain anonymous for a reason.
You say that the girls’ friends will know who they are and what happened, so why does not revealing their names even matter, but there’s a big difference between your friends knowing what happened and who you are, and the whole American news-watching population knowing what happened and who you are. I think it’s just reporting news. Saying that reporting this fact is inappropriate is like saying it’s inappropriate to report whenever a little girl is abducted and sexually assaulted. The reporter is just telling the story.
Accuracy in media…now there’s a concept. I believe they call it an oxymoron. Appropriate? When money is involved.
No, but death/rape SELLS news!
I would definetely tune in hoping to catch a glimpse or detail so I could titillate myself wonder “what really went on in there?”
Sick aint it? The media I mean.
Rule of thumb with the media “if it bleeds, it leads.”
Nope.
It was like that here; this man (who lived like 2 minutes away from me) was in the newspaper for having sex with underage girls in NYC….or something like that. Not only did they mention his full name, where he lived, and many other personal details, this was big, on the front page of the paper.
My mom tells me that the daughter he had in my friend’s grade didn’t go to school for a long while. My mom emailed a pretty scathing message to the journal.
They shouldn’t have mentioned his name. Or where he lived. Not because it’s bad for him (who gives a crap?), but cuz of his like FIVE children.
no, but I’m not surprised, the media doesn’t really think about whats appropriate anymore
Everyone knew but if they had the smallest bit of class they would have said nothing. They don’t
The media biz is all about victimizing children lately.
No.
The media releases alot of information that should probaly be kept on the DL, and this is one of those times… but the media always gives people “what they want”
It’s no one’s business what happened to those poor girls, but I would be willing to guess that alot of people would have wanted to know.
>> “The rest is no one else’s business”
Is ANY of it our business? Is anyone here so connected to the incident that they needed to know? How often do news reports make a verifiable difference in our lives? Sure, we now worry more about school safety, but is our worry productive?
I don’t know the process by which the media decided to release the information. I wish they hadn’t. But I agree with BitterSunday: there should be no shame attached to being the victim of rape. It’s understandable that a person would be embarrassed by the whole thing, but we often talk as though people have the obligation to embarrassed, that they should just keep it quiet and not make anyone uncomfortable. It’s the rapist who should be ashamed and embarrassed, not the victim.
I think the news media is VERY consistent. They do not specialize in giving out needed information; they specialize in entertainment, sensationalism, and ratings. I think they are more interested in protecting their own butts than in protecting anyone’s privacy.
No its private information, only they should decide to tell other people
NO and were I the parent of one of those girls, right about now, I would be counting the dollars we’ll receive when we sue.
Why is being molested so much worse or shameful than anything else that happened to the children he took hostage? Why should the girls feel ashamed because they were molested or raped as opposed to just being traumatized by being taken hostage at gun point? Does being sexually assualted mean that they are more damaged and that they shouldn’t talk about it and just keep it to themselves? I would love to see the stigma of being sexually assualted taken out of our society and of our media.
I think it was absolutely appropriate. The biggest crime against sexual assault victims is silence. People need to know it’s happening. It’s not as if they were talking about the girls personal lives. Like it would have been inappropriate to say if they were just sleeping together, but molestation is a whole different boat. It’s a CRIME. If it’s inappropriate to say he molested them then it’s also inappropriate to mention the shooting at all.
No. That’s disgusting that the media would do that. At least ask the girl’s permission.
No, but I think we’re used to the media blubbering about everything they shouldn’t just to get a story-even if it destroys someone’s life.
Yes. If one of the girls mentioned it, the whole school would know within three days anyway…. hell, the released kids probably knew what was going to happen to the girls.
I don’t understand why they didn’t try to fight back.
They are minors and victims. Their protection and privacy should be placed above giving the news story drama. Even the news programs are extremely concerned with ratings. It’s sad.
Dude, I completely agree with you. But the media will do anything it can really to juice up their stories.
-David
No it wasnt appropriate>
Not ethical, but sensational enough to sell *sarcasm*. Totally inappropriate.
This guy was really sick!
Is there a difference between freedom of Speech and Freedom of Information?
I am not sure you still have it right. HOW did the media know? WHO leaked the information? WHO told the press? Is it common knowledge? If I was an attorney for one of the girls I would be asking some questions.
The Media has lost much of its values. I remember doing a post on it once…
as long as they have permission
sure
if not
no
no.
No! The media sucks why add more to the traumatic situation for the girls…poor things
Media is now more of a sensationalism tool then anything else, I actually have grown tired and sick of it.
IMHO the sensationalism of the story would be decreased if they failed to mention the rape. and all the media seems to care about is that they can make as big a deal as possible to garner intrest in their publication. The mere fact that these girls will now have every inch of their lives scruitenized by the rest of the media in the feeding frenzy to follow is irrelivent to the news powers that be. their only concern is how many papers did they sell above and beyond their daily quota. Was it a vital part of the larger story, yes probably. Did they need to report it to everyone, NO.
Wow, I think they should have gotten the permission of all the girls before releasing something to the public that is so personal.
Wow, I think they should have gotten the permission of all the girls before releasing something to the public that is so personal.
I never really thought about it that way, but no it really wasn’t.
Of course No, but what are we going to do about it? In these cases our First Amendement rights come back and bite our …!
Prob not. Especially since the man can’t be brought to earthly justice now anyway.
It wasn’t right… but what can be done about it now?
Maybe………..because the police were being criticized for going in………maybe the public needed to know what was going on in there. We no longer trust authority when it says, “we can’t tell you, but what we did was right.”
On the other hand, if it was me or my daughter, I’d be ticked off about the reporting of the molestation……………….
no. but then again, when has “the media” ever done anything right?
absolutely 100% no.
i think the media gets away with too much. compromising someone’s privacy especially in an issue like that isn’t worth ratings, and they should be ashamed.
Fight Mental Illness Stigma
I’ll have to agree with you on that one, Dan!
Cowboy
No, that’s totally uncalled for.
The media’s job is to provide fear. It is there to fill us with fear of the inknown, of what may happen, of diseases that won’t affect us, of things that might, may or could occur. What bigger fear that to be a parent of a little girl and find her kidnapped, only to think that this man may rape her, molest her, etc.
I think the media has run out of real stories and now provides us with gossip.
That was gossip. No real news there. No one needed to know that.
Ah, but for the fear it creates in all the people that hear it.
Fear is the key.
no. that’s not the public’s business at all; it’s an extremely private matter. I thought about this when I heard it on the radio.
No, The girls have been through enough hell already.
Is there any way that these girls can be hurt any more than they already have been? The general public doesn’t know who they are. And, whether or not everyone at the school knows what happened, it will still be incredibly hard for these girls. I mean, if the media hadn’t spread the molestation news, out of concern for the girls’ privacy, the girls would have to keep the secret. I don’t think that’s likely. It would be way to tough to hold something like that in. And yet, with everyone in the school knowing …it will still be very difficult. It’s not an easy ride.
Very good question.
They report what they do because no one complains and it sells. Sex sells. And people are voyeuristic enough to want to get the down and dirty details.
> Nope….
Peace
I don’t think so.
NO!
Old post, I know…but having had personal experience with the media myself, I feel the need to point out that they often get the facts VERY wrong. For instance, my house burned down back in April, and the cause of the fire was unknown. My boyfriend’s father mentioned that BF had had a cigarette out on the porch, and perhaps could have lost part of his cherry or something. Printed story? “He was carelessly smoking on the porch”, or some such nonsense. In essence, they implied that BF’s dad was saying BF burned the house down…which could not be further from the truth.
TBH, I wouldn’t be surprised if only *one* of those girls got molested, if even. They always twist things around to suit themselves, often to the point that none of it can even be considered true.
In letting the population know what happened they may have had a right…but they should have gotten permission from all of the girls parents first.