| Chapter 5
Covering Crime and Its Victims
By
Suzette Hackney
Introduction
How do news organizations decide what crimes to report? Because
competitors will have the story? Because an editor finds the story
interesting or has a friend who is involved? Is the story reported
because of the seriousness, heinousness, or uniqueness of the case?
Or is it simply a matter of identifying a new crime trend?
All of those factors can play a part. Crime is covered for a variety
of reasons, and interviewing victims of crime is an essential part
of a journalist's job.
Reporting on crime is important to give society an overall view
of the criminal justice system, says Lisa R. Manns, a Chicago Tribune
assistant city editor. "We find out what's working, what isn't
working, where our tax dollars are being spent," she says.
"People need to be aware as to what's going on in their areas
so they can protect themselves, in every sense. But every crime
is not a story, and sometimes we lose sight of that and forget about
the bigger picture in our eagerness to be first with news. Sometimes
we need to step back and say what is our motivation for doing this
story? Are we really giving people information that's new, that's
different, that's helpful?"
The news media play a significant role in public safety by providing
important information about the nature and extent of crime and efforts
to prevent crime and assist victims. Timely and sensitive coverage
can be helpful, particularly when it publicizes the abduction of
a missing child or provides information on emergency services after
a disaster. High-profile coverage of specific cases and emerging
crimes has contributed to changes in public policy, including recognition
of the need for community notification of released sex offenders
and anti-stalking laws. It has also helped to change public attitudes
about the seriousness of violent crimes such as drunk driving and
rape.
Covering crime and its victims requires perspective, persistence
and patience. It's a beat where rookie reporters are often assigned,
but it is one of the most challenging in any newsroom. Many victims
never have had contact with the media. They feel overwhelmed, distrustful
and scared. Imagine that after a horrible crime, a pack of reporters,
with cameras and tape recorders rolling, surround you and yell out
questions.
Common concerns of victims about news media practices include
interviews with survivors at inappropriate times; video and photographs
of scenes with bodies and body bags; stories that feature "negative"
aspects of victims' lives; and printing or broadcasting a victim's
name or address. The issue of privacy of the individual versus the
freedom of the press is a contentious one, and the related issue
of victims' rights often creates a battleground. Many journalists
realize that while they may have a legal right to publish or broadcast
certain information, they have an ethical responsibility to go further
and balance the potential for public good against the private harm
that may result from exposure.
It's important to realize that by publishing a victim's story,
you may be helping the victim. It's an age-old journalism rule,
but there really are two sides to every story. As reporters, we
tend to rely on police accounts or the "official version"
of an incident, but a victim often lends a unique perspective. Along
those lines, a victim's story can truly connect with your viewers,
readers or listeners, who appreciate real, human tales. The Tribune's
Manns says that "Interviewing a victim brings it home for the
reader. It gives them someone they can identify with, and makes
their reading or viewing experience all that much more personal.
It's just not a faceless, nameless character. It's real."
Who is a Victim?
From a clinical standpoint, a victim is someone who has been intentionally
harmed by another person; has experienced a lowering in importance
or dominance; or has suffered. Psychologists say the suffering may
include pain, rage, depression, loss of mental or physical capacity,
and shame to the point of humiliation and self-imposed isolation.
The victim category includes not only people who have been wronged,
but also their family members or close friends. Victims of violent
crime suffer from injury and injustice. Journalists and those who
work in the fields of law enforcement, criminal justice, social
service, health, and mental health should understand the variety
of injuries, physical and psychological, that are experienced by
victims. That includes the stigma attached to victims in our society,
the isolation, ostracism, and humiliation they often feel, regardless
of their innocence. We must know that, despite billions of dollars
spent on courts, corrections, police, probation and parole systems,
many victims are neglected. Though the number of victim advocacy
programs is growing, they still reach only a small fraction of victims
with meaningful services, say leaders of the victim-aid movement.
The totals have declined since the first federal victimization
survey was issued in 1973, but in 2001, there were an estimated
5.7 million violent victimizations in the United States among more
than 24 million personal and property times. That was the estimate
of the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics; its totals exceed those
reported in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (1.4 million violent
crimes in 2001), because the victimization survey includes crimes
not reported to law enforcement.
It's best to think of victims in three categories: high-risk,
medium-risk and low-risk. High-risk victims could be prostitutes,
substance abusers and women who travel alone at night. A medium-risk
victim is someone who leads a relatively normal life, but does something
that could be dangerous, like choosing to use an ATM at night while
alone. A low-risk victim is just that, someone who should normally
have no interaction with the criminal element. Still, journalists
must never fall prey to the temptation to demonize victims. The
fact that the woman who was murdered was a prostitute may help explain
the dynamics of why she got into a car with a man that she did not
know. But that does not in any way justify what happened to her.
Never forget it's not our job to judge, only to tell the truth through
reporting and writing.
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