Reporting on Rape Victims

To be sure, reporting on rape victims is one of the touchiest ethical issues in journalism. Society has always seemed to attach a certain stigma to sexual assault victims, a stigma that has unfortunately deterred several rape victims from reporting the incident to law enforcement. A lot of this has to do with news organizations inadvertently identifying them in a story. For example, Gretchen Howard told our class her story of being raped in her apartment during her time as a UF undergraduate. Even though she wasn’t identified by name, the story gave away enough that Howard feared her attacker would come back and assault her again. There are countless analysts and journalism ethicists who have expounded upon the best way to report on rape, and there has never been an agreed upon consensus. Of course, the big question here: should a rape victim be identified, whether by name or inadvertently though some other characteristic? I believe journalists should always allow rape victims the choice of being identified.

I have heard of journalists who have blindly identified rape victims merely after getting a “yes” from the victim in question. Even if the rape victim isn’t a minor and expressively gives a reporter permission to identify them in a story he or she is writing, the reporter shouldn’t go ahead and publish the victim’s name based on that permission alone. It would be important to examine some other issues, like finding out how much crisis counseling the victim received before deciding to go public. It would also be important to know if he or she had obtained professional mental help in dealing with their trauma. It would be crucial to get a sense of just how much guidance he or she received that allowed them to make such an important decision. If it isn’t clear that the victim gave extensive thought to whether or not to give his or her name, I don’t think it would be ethical to go ahead and use it in a story.

Stories about rape touch on the most upsetting and difficult aspects of people’s personal lives. As journalists, we have a duty to determine exactly how vulnerable these individuals are and write our stories accordingly. Rape stories shouldn’t be treated with flippancy. Although we may move on after writing a story about a rape, those affected to it surely won’t. They will always remember the tragedy and be deeply connected to it. It’s therefore important to exercise care and caution when writing about sexual assault victims. Reporters shouldn’t stop their questioning and analyzing as soon as they’ve gotten that “yes” from a rape victim.

Week 8 Abstracts

STYLE WARS IN CYBERSPACE

Copy editors are probably the most underappreciated, unrecognized members of any newsroom, but their jobs are – ironically – the most important as a last line of defense against fact, style and grammatical errors. It makes sense, then, that these disgruntled grammarians are taking to the blogosphere to try to debate and even correct some common usage concerns.

Coral Davenport’s look into the growing world of copy blogs is interesting because it delves into how the exploding blogging phenomenon has reached the seemingly far-off realm of slots and rims. Online forums and message boards provide the perfect environment for discussions about all the issues that plague copy – other editors can leave instantaneous feedback and can easily provide links to back up their style and grammar claims. Even more importantly, the vast breadth of the online world also opens up copy discussion to non-editors, such as English teachers, linguists and writers of all types.

Copy editors, understandably, feel they have little influence on correcting the mistakes of their reporters as most of their work goes on behind the scenes. If they do receive any feedback, it’s usually negative. (i.e. “You screwed up my story!”).  It was only a matter of time before the industry’s cantankerous copy editors took to the Web to try to save the lost arts of proper grammar and style. I think the more people we have researching and debating topics like style, use and grammar, the better off the industry will be. Editors should never be too proud to admit or mistakes and learn from them. Similarly, they also shouldn’t be embarrassed or miffed by other editors’ online diatribes, as most are good-intentioned efforts to improve our copy and journalism’s reputation.

I checked out a couple of the copy blogs that the AJR mentions in this piece, but I have to say my favorite was on the Web site of Raleigh’s News & Observer, where features copy editor Pam Nelson rails against clichés, delves into the nuances of word orders and looks up etymologies (www.blogs.newsobserver.com/grammar). She provides a ton of helpful examples of errors and misusage, but she never takes a condescending tone and seems to genuinely have a passion for her craft.

BOB RICHTER: PARDON THE PUNS: E-N HEADLINE WRITERS TOLD TO PLAY IT STRAIGHT

Here, Bob Richter of The San Antonio Express-News tackles the oft debated subject of headline writing and examines the paper’s policy on pun headlines. Essentially, the paper’s editor, Robert Rivard, decided to put a moratorium on pun heds after receiving tons of e-mails from readers who were furious with a so-called “serious” paper’s lame attempts at being creative. Despite a few anomalies, I have to say that very few pun headlines are actually what we could call zingers. The danger with writing these types of heds is that there’s never a mediocre pun. Most are either downright corny or impressively creative. Rivard brings up a good point when he explains that some headline writers “seem more focused on peer approval than on producing a quality newspaper for the community.” I agree. So many copy editors get obsessed with trying to humorously one-up their colleagues. This kind of immaturity just makes a reporter’s work look bad.

The two puns that  did it were “Old well ends well: River Walk threat wiped out”  and “Mumps outbreak swells.”  I don’t have too much of  a problem with the first one, albeit if there wasn’t ANY other alternative. The second is just pathetic, and sadly, a kind of hed that I’ve seen frequently in The Gainesville Sun. An obvious pun like that is just corny and doesn’t shed any kind of specific light on the problem. The headline could have incorporated what officials are attributing the mumps outbreak to, and it would have been much more informative. Plus, I don’t think a serious mumps outbreak belongs with a funny headline. It’s all about making sure the tone and the subject matter agree.

Worse, when you obsess about writing pun headlines, you often highlight something that isn’t even a focus of the story. A headline’s job is to draw readers in and ACCURATELY reflect the story below is about. I think this is the most common headline error copy editors make – misleading headlines that totally miss the mark when it comes to the heart of the story.

Headline writing really is an art, one that is hard to teach or debate with any authority. But I agree that in some cases, newspapers have to enforce rules like the Express-News “pun ban” to save its reputation and credibility with its readership.

NEWSPAPER HEADLINES LOST IN WEB TRANSLATION

Headline writing is hard enough without having to consider the online element. The challenge here, as Elinor Mills suggests, is writing headlines that not only attract online readers ( who are very different beasts than are print readers) but headlines that get you allow you to optimize your search-engine presence. Too often, I see pithy pun headlines in print and boring, uninformative headlines on a newspaper’s Web site. It should be the opposite. An online story gets rid of all the space restrictions that a broadsheet has. You have all this space – why waste it with short, dull, choppy heds? This doesn’t mean that you only strive for cuteness on the Web. It can only get you so far. Online readers who are busy or in a rush want their news now. They don’t have time to wade through cutesy, misleading heds that have absolutely nothing to do with the story. Web headline writing is a science that has to be a perfect balance of the interesting and informative.

Another equally dangerous practice is using identical headlines in print and online. As this CNET News article explains, there are just too many print headlines that don’t translate to the Web particularly well merely because of search engine minutiae.

A headline like “Wall St. lays an egg” used online would guarantee that no one would be able to  find the article. As Spencer points out, “Searchers won’t type in ‘Wall St.’”  I think “Spell it out” should be one of the cardinal rules for headline writing for the Web. I thought it was interesting that Spencer referenced one of the most talked about headlines in journalism: “Ford to city: Drop dead” on   President Ford’s denial of a federal bailout in 1975. A headline like this wouldn’t give you any search engine hits without putting “President Ford” and the more specific “New York City.”

Essentially, I think this article shows that erring on the side of specificity is one of the most important rules for Web headlines.

CASE STUDY FROM ACES BOARD

I read a discussion thread debating the following lede in The Dallas Morning News:

“Every one has had a day where 24 hours just doesn’t seem like enough time. So you rush. First work runs late. Then you realize you are out of dog food and have to run by the store before going home.

For a 42-year-old woman, that busy day was near an end when she stopped to check the mail in her apartment complex. There, a man forced her into the backseat of her car and ordered her to say nothing. Then he raped her.”

Most of the commenters bring up what I consider to be the most important criticism of this lede – using a feature lede about a rape story is just plain wrong. Reporting on a rape is one of the trickiest things to do. You risk stepping over the line of what is pertinent information and what could possibly upset or endanger the victim, especially if the attacker hasn’t been caught. I’m sure the subject of this story would be extremely upset to learn that her ordeal was trivialized like this.

When the copy editor raised her concern, this is the response she got from the metro editor:

“It conveys how an ordinary day can become a major trauma and this is why we want people to be aware of serial rapist.”

While I can understand that the writer’s point was to show how rape can happen to any one at any time, I think the most basic lesson here is that a hard news story deserves a no-nonsense lede that doesn’t try to be poetic. If this was the first time the rape was reported in the paper, I think it deserved a much different lede. If the paper decided to do a follow-up story, then MAYBE the writer could have used this type of feature-y lede.

One of the other commenters brings up the fact that copy editors who work for Gannett papers are told never to change a lead like this one. Basically, the top dogs tell their editors that breaking news gets posted on the Web with a hard news lede and then the next day you print a softer lead that’s supposed to be a sort of folo.

This is just a flawed philosophy. Online readers are usually not going to read the softer version in the next day’s print edition and loyal print readers aren’t necessarily going to be checking the site for breaking news. In almost every case, they’ll read this kind of lead and just find it insensitive.

After reading the full text of the story (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/021708dnmetcollinrape.3233173.html), I realize that the reporter was trying to make the story part of a “bigger picture” look at a series of recent rapes, but I think she could have written a better lede that doesn’t shift the focus away from the subject matter.

STORY IDEA

The Palm Beach Post traveled with deputies who serve foreclosure notices on homeowners. Often the owners leave behind an unimaginable mess either in a fit of rage or just to spite the bank. (Broken doors, soiled carpets, etc.)

I propose doing a similar piece for an Alachua County readership. The reporter could ride-along with a deputy with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office who is in charge of serving these notices. It would be interesting to see if there considerably more of these homes taking into account Gainesville’s large student population. What about apartment complexes? Does the same problem exist?

For additional sources, I would get in contact with the workers who are subcontracted to help clean out these homes. What are some of the worst things they’ve ever had to clean? I would also talk with realtors who have been hired by the banks to try to sell homes that have been vandalized or dirtied by the foreclosed-upon owners.  How much longer does it take to re-sell these “handyman specials​”?

Story would be 25 inches with pictures of some of the homes (exterior or interior, depending on what we’d be allowed to legally take photos of). Online story could have video interview with deputy and some of the workmen who have to clean up behind the disgruntled owners. Online version could also have a chart comparing the number of foreclosure and eviction notices the sheriff’s office has had to serve over the last three or four years.

Week 7 Abstracts

Laura Wright

kgirl182@ufl.edu

TIMES ISSUES ETHICS GUIDELINES FOR REPORTERS, EDITORS

 It really surprises (and almost disturbs) me that it took The Los Angeles Times  so long to provide a typewritten, comprehensive set of guidelines for its reporters and editos. A detailed ethics codes should be the foundation of every major newspaper, and every paper should have an updated version easily available to each staff member. More importantly, this ethics code should sit right alongside the reporter’s AP Stylebook, dictionary and calculator. Memos and staff meetings aren’t enough when it comes to communicating ethical standards that have the potential to make or destroy the newspaper’s reputation. At nine pages, the Times’s ethics code is definitely shorter than some other newspaper’s, some of which look more like encyclopedias than concise pamphlets of information. I think it’s important that the Times spent more than a year discussing the ethical guidelines to incorporate into the ethics code. Setting the tone for your newspaper’s ethical practices is a big job, and you want to make sure you cover all the bases and possible ethical dilemmas that could arise.

I found it interesting that one of the guideline’s main no-no’s was sportswriters voting for awards and rankings. I usually think of ethics codes in terms of straight, general-assignment reporting, but it does make sense that there be a solid ethical foundation for journalists who cover sports, where it is easy to get caught up in the tit-for-tat, freebie atmosphere. I do agree somewhat with Sports Editor Bill Dwyre when he discusses the risk of just having coaches and fans do the voting. Sportswriters usually have a great deal of experiencing covering and analyzing the game (whatever it is) from every possible angle, so it almost makes me wonder why they shouldn’t be allowed to vote for whomever they think is the best quarterback/pitcher/etc.? I also agree with Carroll that it should be up to the committee who gives out the particular award to ensure that the voting is fair and accurately reflects who the sports world believes is the most deserving of that trophy or Hall of Fame spot.

I find the Times’s policy on anonymous sources a little vague. The standards say that anonymous sources can still be used, but only as a “last resort” to convey important information that cannot be delivered by other means. This isn’t much of a decree on the use of confidential sources. I think it should provided some more “for instance” situations where a reporter might be justified in using an anonymous source as well as those occasions where it should be mandatory to have someone go on the record. I realize that it is hard to come up with a black-and-white way of looking at journalistic ethics, but I do think the Times should have been a bit more detailed when describing one of the trickiest topics in the business.

I do like the fact that the Times included guidelines for clear, concise writing in its ethics code. This is one of the most underemphasized areas of journalism. I think every newspaper should follow suit with frowning upon the use of superlatives. Nowadays, stories are chock full of words like “biggest” and “worst” as adjectives, but if these can’t be backed up, they’re useless and a waste of newsprint.

 WHAT THE F-K ARE THEY DRIVING AT?

 I really enjoyed reading the CJR’s take on expletives in print stories. I’m with the school of thought that by omitting words like “fuck” from quotes for the sake of not offending “family-oriented” readers, you water down the feeling behind a quote, and as Gal Beckerman explains, whittle down rage into mere exasperation. I’m actually quite surprised that The New York Times chose to omit “fucking” from General Franks’s  quote, “I have to deal with the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth almost every day.” This is a fairly safe move from a newspaper that’s gained considerable prestige for taking risks and taking a noticeably liberal tack toward the Iraq war. There mere fact that the Times altered Franks’s quote without letting readers know is in itself problematic. Some may argue that the overall point behind Frank’s quote (that he doesn’t particularly like Feith) is made pretty clear even with “fucking” taken out,  but I believe that instead of shying away from words that are widely used in the English language (much to the dismay of conservatives and linguistic elitists), we should portray people truthfully as they present themselves in an interview. Just as Beckerman notes, leaving the word in would have shown just how unafraid Franks was in letting his hatred for Feith be made public. Our job as journalists is to be truth-tellers. We shouldn’t let political correctness water down our stories and ruin the context of a quote. Omission is just a big a sin in journalism as inaccuracy. If the argument is that children might get a hold of a story with a curse word, let’s be honest with ourselves. The few (if any) young children picking up a newspaper are merely shuffling through to the comics and sports sections.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF THE WEB LINK

I enjoyed reading this piece because I wasn’t even aware of the hotbed of controversy surrounding deep-linking. I really didn’t even know there was a term for the sort of hypertext roadmap that many sites lay out for readers. The main argument against deep linking is of course a financial one. Bypassing the homepage means missing out on a slew of ads and pop-ups, the lifeblood of most media. While I can understand the reasoning here, I feel it wouldn’t be as big of a debate if the newspaper industry wasn’t in so much financial trouble and didn’t have such a dependent relationship with its advertisers. I don’t think that newspapers should outright prohibit deep linking to their content, like The Dallas Morning News has done. People using the Web do so in the spirit of receiving a variety of content in a free and open exchange. To try to limit the vast universe that is the Internet is an ill-conceived notion and threatening to the online culture that so many newspapers are trying to embrace in an effort to keep up with their demographic. I agree that banning deep-linking to newspaper stories is interfering with readers’ rights to look at whatever content interests them, and,  as other critics claim, is like telling newspaper readers that they can’t read the sports section if they haven’t read the front page first. I don’t think that just because a reader bypasses a newspaper’s home page means that they’re completely lost to the paper’s advertisers. It’s highly likely that once readers are done reading a story on a particular page that they might poke around on the site other content and, of course, advertising.

STORY IDEA

As we’re approaching the the end of February, students are most likely finalizing their Spring Break plans. Often, this includes booking all-inclusive trips to exotic locales like Aruba or Cancun. However, there are almost always “hidden fees” added to these trip packages and according to a UMass study, students may pay up to 40 percent more than the advertised trip price on fliers or in newspaper ads. In addition to the advertised price, such travel companies may require students to pay international, credit card and late-booking fees – sometimes even a $30 fuel surcharge to offset rising gas prices.
The credit card fee can range from $15-25 and may deter students from using the payment method that offers the most protection in legal disputes. Agencies such as Springbreaktravel.com require students to cancel trip arrangements at least 60 days in advance for a full refund, an option not feasible for most students.

I would propose a story on the prevalence of students being taken in by these vacation packages, which are almost always too good to be true. I would take a look at some of the biggest names in Spring Break travel companies and see what lies in the fine print. Sources would be one or two students who’ve been scammed or misled by Spring Break trip companies, a travel expert from UF’s STA Travel office and  maybe an attorney. Online story could have forum where readers could share their experiences with travel companies; links to the Better Business Bureau and Federal Trade Commission; a box with tips on how to choose the right travel agency; and a chart comparing advertised prices for popular Spring Break packages to the actual costs.

 

Week 6 Abstracts

FRANK FEE’S TIPS FOR ACCURACY

UNC’s Frank Fee offers a compilation of some of the most useful tips on preserving accuracy. According to Fee, objective errors are the easiest to control of the six types of news errors. I’m curious to find out what the other five errors are and which he believes to be the hardest to control as a journalist. It’s ironic (and telling) that Fee begins the list of tips with “Always do the math,” being that was the topic of last week’s abstracts. Just as Fee stresses, it’s crucial to make sure the numbers are not only correct but also that they add up. Another insightful point Fee makes is that just because you get some of these numbers from lauded “officials” or “experts” doesn’t mean you should give them the benefit of the doubt. Scientists and doctors are just as capable of human error as reporters and editors, and we shouldn’t treat everything sources say as the gospel truth. Another thing we often take for granted is that a date of birth and a given age are mathematically compatible. Only rarely have I remembered to compare the two in stories that I’ve written or edited.

I can’t agree more with Fee on how crucial it is that one of the first thing a copy editor should do when reading a story is to double check the first reference of people to make sure something in his or her name hasn’t been rearranged or accidentally deleted. I’ve seen how common it is for editors and production staff to hastily cut, copy and paste portions of text while forgetting to double check these types of things. Similarly, accidentally cutting the “S” from “She” can result in a lot of embarrassment for you and your female source. No matter how new to the scene, a reporter or editor should also never be embarrassed or self-conscious in immediately pointing out a mechanical/objective editor to a supervisor. While working at the Gainesville Sun, I’ve seen several mechanical errors in stories I filed that weren’t there prior to being sent to production and copy edited. However, I’ve always been too embarrassed to mention anything to my editors for fear of sounding nit-picky or bitchy. Like Fee explains, this is just acting as an accomplice to the error and freely cooperating in lowering the standards of the newspaper.

What it all boils down to is despite how swamped you might be, taking the time to really concentrate on the copy (everything from spacing to spelling to tone) to make sure nothing is mistakenly dropped into what Fee calls the “funnel” of the editing assembly line. The farther it makes it down the line, the less likely it is to be caught and corrected. Of course, no list of accuracy tips would be complete without the journalistic adage, “Never assume.” I would bet that more than 75 percent of objective and mechanical errors that have made it to the presses were the result of a hasty assumption. We all know that assuming makes … well, you get the point.

WHAT THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA CAN LEARN FROM JON STEWART

The American Journalism Review’s in-depth analysis of the snarky Jon Stewarts’s “The Daily Show” is full of interesting insights into the growing business of fake news and what it can teach us about the ever-evolving world of journalism. I think the most telling thing about shows like Stewart’s is truly how little they need to do to be effective and engaging. Of course, Stewart has a talented staff of writers to help him think up the majority of the show’s comedic quips, but for the most part, the video clips of the politicians he parodies speak for themselves. AJR’s Rachel Smolkin makes a wonderful point by explaining the untapped fact-checking qualities of shows like “The Daily Show.” By giving audiences first-hand evidence of the blatant contradictions that our politicians are guilty of (much like Tim Russert does on “Meet the Press” but without the biting humor), Stewart offers a no-frills and damn-funny brand of watchdog journalism.

What Stewart and his colleagues is something akin to a funny, cable television version of reputable Web sites such as FactCheck,org and PolitiFact.com, and who can argue that there isn’t a demand for such a niche? Why can’t the people who have sites like these bookmarked also subsidize their information with a little sarcasm on the side?s

Of course, there are numerous limitations that come with trying to make the news “funny,” namely presenting your readers with just-the-facts-ma’m coverage. While I do think that today’s journalists shouldn’t be afraid of sticking their necks out and putting a sense of humor into their stories, I also think much of this depends on the type of story and what kind of tone is appropriate. But any journalist that can’t laugh at Stewarts’s mockery of the media simply shouldn’t be in the business. Journalists should be able to laugh at themselves regardless of who’s doing the criticizing. Even though much of the “The Daily Show’s” mockery is done with an admittedly liberal flair, it still can teach us a lot about what NOT to do or say as a member of the press.

Dean Powers’ article in The Nation is an interesting look at the far-reaching influence of the English language on political coverage in the mainstream media. While I sort of question the motivations of an admittedly liberal magazine like The Nation when considering how big a phenomenon of choosing words that favor Republicans, it is an important insight to realize how often the media characterize both liberals and conservatives with language that seems only to describe their lifestyles and personal preferences, not their political ideology. It does seem that our political coverage is slowly becoming one devoid of real substance and instead the careful choosing of particular buzzwords and codewords that either scream liberal or conservative – “fundamentalist Christians,” “the Christian base,” “red state,” “blue state,” “elites,” and of course as Nunberg points out, the discussion of “values,” which is essentially a discussion of how, when it comes to social issues, liberal ideology and thought has left us morally bankrupt.

I agree with people like Sydney Schanberg who believe that these words – while they may be punchy and fun to use in your writing – are examples of loaded language and lazy imprecision. Why say “red state” when you can be cover all the bases and be much more concrete and – most importantly – less misleading? Words like “liberal” and “right-wing” really do carry negative connotations and only make unproductive partisan bickering worse. Any of journalism’s lauded political reporters, David Broder for example, would advise being you can’t be too concrete when it comes to writing about anything in the political arena. I think one of the most important words of advice for a political reporter is to not, as Bob Moore explains, let sources set the standard for the language you use in a story to describe the other side of a particular issue. Loaded words like “illegals” to describe immigrants working in the United States should have no place in journalism, but sadly enough, I’m sure there are more than a handful of reporters who would have no qualms about using the term.

While I have been guilty of this on more than a few occasions, it does no good to look at America’s political landscape strictly in terms of conservative or liberal, especially when most research shows that a number of Americans simply don’t fit in these neat little molds of ideological thought. Let’s face it – most of us are moderates. I think we’d see a much different, more informative political coverage if we gave up the use of “color-coded imagery” and focus on clear, concise and informative writing. Any editor could tell you that he or she prefers writing that is overly concrete over that which relies on connotative generalizations about people and their beliefs.

STORY IDEA

The Gainesville Police Department has been talking with five private companies that install video cameras at intersections to catch red-light runners. Cameras would capture video and still images of intersections, allowing police officers to review the tapes and issue tickets to the owners of vehicles that blow through red lights. According to the attorney general, these tickets would only be admissible as violations of city ordinance, NOT as a moving traffic violation. The Gainesville City Commission will be considering an ordinance that has been drafted that would allow the city to partner with a private company. The fines will range anywhere from $175-$250.

I propose doing a more in-depth article about this proposal. There are eight cities in Florida that have similar ordinances. I’d find out which cities these are, how much they charge in fines and how effective the ordinance has been in reducing accidents. I think it’s also important to talk to someone with GPD and the Gainesville City Commission to see where SPECIFICALLY the money collected from these fines would go. Would they increase with additional infractions? I’d talk to some residents (students and non-students) to get some insight into what people think about the possibility of these cameras being installed. Are the city’s motivations more to do with money than reducing traffic accidents? What statistics and figures can they produce to show that red-light running is the main cause of Gainesville’s major traffic accidents?

Story would run at 20 inches with photo of Archer/34^th Street intersection. Online story could have infographic of Florida map with the cities that already have a red-light ordinance. When you click on the different cities, the map could compare them in terms of fines, number of traffic accidents prevented, etc. Online story could also have a reader poll, video interviews with residents, and maybe a forum where readers could give feedback and keep track of when/where they’ve witnessed someone running a red light.