Several journalists have called me this week asking my opinion about whether newsrooms should name the woman who filed a civil lawsuit against Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, accusing him of sexually assaulted her.
Newsrooms generally withhold the names of sexual assault victims so they don’t cause further harm. As Helen Benedict wrote in her 1992 book “Virgin or Vamp: How the Press Covers Sex Crimes“: “To name a rape victim is to guarantee that whenever somebody hears her name, that somebody will picture her in the act of being sexually tortured. To expose a rape victim to this without her consent is nothing short of punitive.”
Questions that arise when deciding whether to publish or withhold a name rarely involve “yes” or “no” answers. This situation is complicated by the fact that it is a civil, rather than criminal, case. Before deciding whether to reveal the victim’s name, journalists should ask themselves a series of questions. I would include these on the list:
- Will the accuser talk? Is she or her attorney asking for her name to be kept secret? What is their reasoning? Have, for example, Steelers fans threatened her? Would naming her endanger her?
- What are the newsroom’s guidelines for handling such cases? In the absence of guidelines that specify civil actions rather than criminal ones, how have you treated similar cases in the past?
- How would a settlement change the context of the conversation about this case? Would the amount matter?
- How would your decision be affected if a judge threw out the case or if the woman withdrew the suit?
- Why is the victim’s identity important? Is she prominent? If she were another player’s wife, for example, it would add another angle to the decision. If the woman were a well-known, highly trustworthy individual, it could add credibility to the accusations.
- Does the victim have any history of making complaints like this? What is her attorney’s reputation? Various rumor Web sites ran stories Thursday about the woman’s mental state, but people who are mentally ill also can be sexually abused. The lawsuit said the woman had been treated for a mental illness after the attack.
- How would not identifying her harm Roethlisberger? It seems to me that protecting her identity makes her look more like a victim — why would you protect her if you didn’t believe her? If you don’t name her, then why name him? No matter how this case turns out, Roethlisberger’s reputation has been tainted by this accusation. A fair number of people will consider the old adage: “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
- Consider the other stakeholders. Would your decision be affected if other accusers came forward? How would identifying this woman affect others who say they have been assaulted? How might they react if they see this woman savaged by cameras and splashed on the news?
- What alternatives have you considered to naming her? Withholding her name does not mean you refrain from reporting on the case or seeking answers about what happened. Even if you identify her, you may or may not choose to show her picture.
- How might not naming her harm other people? Who else might be implicated if you identify her only as a Reno hotel worker? Think about how harmful it would be if you identified Roethlisberger simply as an NFL quarterback — all quarterbacks would be under a shadow. Naming individuals may cause harm to those you name, but it can prevent harm to others.
- How will you explain your decision to the public beyond just saying, “We always” or “We never”?
- How committed are you to following this story to its conclusion?
- Will you make the same decisions online that you make in a print or broadcast report? How would you justify the different decisions?
- How will you cover the story of rape and sexual abuse beyond allegations that involve public figures? How can you expand the public’s knowledge of this issue to show that the most common attacks involve persons of authority who are well known to the victim?
Civil vs. criminal accusations
Remember that a civil lawsuit is different than a criminal case. A criminal case is styled as the state versus an individual. For a criminal charge to be filed, there has to be some evidence to believe a crime has occurred — a witness, for example. But none of that is necessary for a civil lawsuit, which is between an individual and another individual (or group or company). A plaintiff in a civil case does not have to meet the same standard of proof as the prosecution in a criminal case (where the standard is “beyond a reasonable doubt”).
So, in a criminal case, there is some indication at the outset that somebody has been victimized, which may be enough to warrant protection. But there is no such evidence in a civil case until the judge holds hearings and lawyers gather evidence. We technically don’t know if there was a victim in this case.
How I would handle it
All of that said, I lean toward naming the accuser in this case. Seeking compensation in a civil suit affords one less protection than pressing to jail an attacker in order to protect society. Not naming her, as I noted above, could potentially cause harm to others not involved in the incident.
And it becomes even more difficult to defend concealing her identity when Roethlisberger named her in the news conference in which he denied the allegations.
That said, the tone of the coverage should be measured. I see no reason to stalk the accuser as some celebrity Web sites have done. And even if I published or aired the accuser’s name, I find fewer reasons to publish photos of her unless they add to our understanding of the story. (The photos I have seen online don’t.)
How others are handling it
Editor & Publisher reported on how news organizations in Pittsburgh have played the story:
“The story is also a top article on the paper’s Web site, which posted a copy of the civil suit document.
“The rival Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, however, barely mentions the lawsuit on Page One, noting it only in a sports blurb at the bottom of the page that states: ‘A Nevada woman accuses Ben Roethlisberger of rape — accusations he has denied.’
“On the Tribune-Review Web site, meanwhile, the only story about the lawsuit is down in the sports section, and not even as a top sports story.
“Both newspapers withheld the woman’s name and did not run a photo of her. The Post-Gazette, in its posting of the lawsuit, also redacted her name.“
I am troubled by ESPN’s lack of coverage until Roethlisberger talked Thursday.
ESPN explained its decision by saying, “At this point, we are not reporting the allegations against Ben Roethlisberger because no criminal complaint has been filed. As far as we know, this is a civil lawsuit that Roethlisberger has yet to address publicly.”
The decision seems to say ESPN does not cover civil lawsuits. Yet other major sports stories have involved civil cases, including the second O.J. Simpson trial. St. Petersburg Times columnist Tom Jones pointed out:
Inconsistency adds fuel to charges of favoritism.
Additional resources
Bob Steele, Poynter’s ethics scholar, wrote a piece in 2002 related to naming rape victims in a case involving minors.
The New York Times put a historic perspective on the issue several years ago, saying that not naming victims can stigmatize them.
Kelly McBride, Poynter’s ethics group leader, has written about the difficulty of deciding whether to name a rape victim:
“It’s no wonder people closest to the crime balk at the suggestion that we should start naming rape victims. We’ve done very little to tell their stories, thus far. The suggestion that we name the victims is one that causes a great amount of harm and offers little hope of correcting our past failures.
“If we want to tell the truth about rape and gain more credibility with the millions of readers who already know this truth, there are other steps we could take first.
“Publish with journalistic purpose. Newsrooms should develop a plan for covering individual reports and arrests as well as broader trends. If only a fraction of reported cases make the paper, devise a system that will ensure the net body of work tells the broader truth. How should crime reporters choose their stories? What about the people on the sports and education beats? Who should be responsible for reporting broader trends? Do rely solely on cases reported to law enforcement, or do you routinely seek other research?
“Explain the discrepancies between police statistics and research statistics. Do this in the narrowly focused briefs as well as the broader crime trend stories. It only takes a line or two to describe how many rapes are reported every year in a certain community and how many officials estimate go unreported. Authoritative research on this issue can be found at the websites for RAINN (Rape and Incest survivors National Network) and the National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center Web site.
“Revisit the policy on a regular basis. Ensure that practice and policy are consistent. An informal poll suggests that roughly one-third of newspapers have formal, written policies on the coverage of rape.”
