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| NECESSARY INFORMATION? | |
 July 20, 2000  |
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Will "Victim/Witness Media Information Cards" leave crime victims better informed of their rights or biased against the press? The NewsHour Media Unit is funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
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TERENCE SMITH: Warren Carmichael, the longtime public information chief for the Fairfax police, helped craft the controversial cards.
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| A limit on the press? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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TERENCE SMITH: But some reporters fear the cards may make it even more difficult to maintain their credibility and do their job at the scene of a crime.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching Washington's ABC 7.
DAVE STATTER, Reporter, WUSA-TV: I'm worried about it. I believe it tries to limit what we can do as reporters. TERENCE SMITH: Dave Statter, a veteran Washington, DC, television crime reporter, says he and Warren Carmichael have worked closely-- and clashed on occasion-- over police restrictions. Statter says he's worried about the message the card may send to victims, witnesses, and the public at large.
TERENCE SMITH: In various cities, government agencies other than police departments have handed out flyers counseling the public about talking with the press. For example, this flyer, distributed to welfare recipients in Virginia by the Department of Family Services, tells its readers that if they are contacted by the media, it's okay for you to take time to make up your mind; feel free to say yes or no. But opponents of the victim/witness media information cards say the police badge printed on the card sends a distinct message. Bob Becker of the Washington, DC, chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists made that point to Fairfax police.
TERENCE SMITH: In response, Becker has drafted his own card for reporters to distribute. The card reads in part: "My job is to inform members of the public about crimes so they may protect themselves from becoming victims in the future and to inform them of the progress police make investigating and solving such crimes. If you do not wish to talk to me now, you may call me later at the number below." POLICEMAN: Back up! Back this way. Everybody back this way. |
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| The price of media irresponsibility | ||||||||||||||||||||
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DAVE STATTER: Certainly through the years there have been excesses by the news media. There are things that I have seen on TV that I cringe at. I'd like to think as a reporter I'm responsible, and I'm also concerned not to mess up anybody's case. TERENCE SMITH: Some media critics contend it's not just victims, but also the police who can be harmed by poor press conduct.
TERENCE SMITH: Rick Rosenthal, a Chicago reporter for 22 years, now travels the country coaching law enforcement on dealing with the press. He promotes the use of media information cards, and he uses the story from WJLA-TV in Washington as an example of why the police should control press behavior. RICK ROSENTHAL: I cannot imagine the terror that this little boy has gone through, and now he's being victimized again by the media? Take a look. This is the face of media brutality. TERENCE SMITH: Rosenthal also uses an example of what he calls media assault from his home turf of Chicago. A local news station released the name of a woman who had been accidentally shot before police could notify her family. He asks his class how law enforcement officers should handle that type of situation.
TERENCE SMITH: Patrol Sergeant Rick Holford of the Moffett County, Colorado, Sheriff's Department, argues that the press often oversteps its bounds.
TERENCE SMITH: In contrast, Sue Young, whose daughter, Martha, was murdered by a serial killer over 20 years ago, says local news people in Lansing, Michigan, dealt with her sensitively. SUE YOUNG, Victim's Rights Advocate: I felt like they were my friends, and it was a reciprocal relationship, that they always treated me with respect. TERENCE SMITH: Reporters even helped Young when she inadvertently divulged information the police wanted kept secret during the search for her missing daughter.
TERENCE SMITH: Two years ago, Young says press coverage aided in her successful push for a Michigan law which today transfers serial sexual predators, such as this man who killed Young's daughter, to mental institutions after they have served their sentences. SUE YOUNG: Channel 10 ran a whole series on it in the public interest, I believe, because they felt like that it was something that needed to be done. |
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| The risk of re-traumatization | ||||||||||||||||||||
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TERENCE SMITH: While victims' rights advocates agree much of the press coverage of crime is on the mark, they worry that victims may be re-traumatized by some in the press. Bonnie Bucquerox coordinates Michigan State University's Victims and the Media Program.
TERENCE SMITH: To prevent this kind of practice from flourishing, Bucquerox and her colleagues instruct journalism students on "how to do good, not harm." BONNIE BUEQUEROX: Even if it's a matter of using canned phrases saying, "I'm sorry for your loss." Even if it sounds phony, it's better than blurting out the bad -- you know, the wrong comment that you might make. TERENCE SMITH: Sue Young speaks to Buequerox's classes, advising budding reporters on how they should treat the victims of crime.
WARREN CARMICHAEL: What we're going to cover this morning is the utilization of our victim advisory cards. TERENCE SMITH: Meanwhile, in Virginia, the Fairfax County Police Department is proceeding with its plans to train detectives, including these plainclothes officers, and begin distribution of the victim/witness cards. Law enforcement agencies from around the country have inquired about doing the same. |
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TERENCE
SMITH: These small cards may pack a powerful punch. They are called
"Victim/Witness Media Information Cards." Fairfax County,
Virginia, Police say distributing these instructions to victims or witnesses
of crime informs people about their rights when they are approached
by journalists covering the story. The cards are an innovation, and
at this meeting with police called by the National Society of Professional
Journalists, reporters complained that the real crime may be the trampling
of first amendment rights. 
DICK
HAMMERSTROM, The Free Lance-Star: Most of these people never deal with
the police, or never deal with the media. It says, essentially, if you
choose to give an interview, please call one of the numbers on the other
side. But to a person, that's saying you have to get police permission.
WARREN
CARMICHAEL, Fairfax County Police Department: I know that in our department,
and I know for a fact in other law enforcement agencies, over the years
there have been individual detectives or investigators who will growl
to a victim or a witness, "don't talk to the press." And I
am sure that has a very chilling effect on the recipients of that command.
We are taking an approach that's completely different. We're not saying,
"don't talk to the press." We're saying, "we will offer
you help and assistance -- if you want it -- to help you to talk with
the media."
SANDRA
JONTZ, Fairfax Journal: You just feel that sometimes you bang your head
against the wall in trying to present information to the public. And
you've already tied our hands, and here's yet again something else that
feels just a bit binding. 
TERENCE
SMITH: The idea for the cards was hatched when a Washington, DC, television
news reporter interviewed the mother of a five-year-old boy who had
been approached by a suspected serial child molester. After the interview,
the mother says she asked the reporter not to air pictures of her son.
When the station, WJLA-TV, broadcast the interview and briefly showed
the boy, the police protested, saying the station had potentially revealed
the boy's identity at a time when the suspect was still at large.
The
card, scheduled to be printed in English, Spanish, Farsi, Korean, and
Vietnamese, has undergone some changes since its conception. After some
initial negative press reaction, the Fairfax police toned down some
of the language in this first version. The new wording reads this way,
with the changes noted in red. "News media may wish to interview
you regarding this incident. You have the right to grant or refuse interviews.
If you choose to give an interview, please call one of the numbers on
the reverse side. You will be given advice important in protecting your
rights and the investigation. But there is no legal requirement to contact
police prior to an interview." On the reverse side, what once said
simply "contact the investigating officer or detective," now
reads, "For information and assistance," followed by the detective
or officer's name. 
DAVE
STATTER: We know already there are detectives out there who tell victims
or witnesses, "do not talk to the news media." This kind of
makes it somewhat official. And this card, in combination with what
the police officer might say, would keep information away from us. 
BOB
BECKER, Society of Professional Journalists: Your county, like much
of the Washington area, is populated by a large number of people who
came here from other countries, from authoritarian countries where when
the police tell you anything, you do what they said. That's what my
problem is with your card saying, "call us first," because
those people will see this card as saying, "I have to have your
approval to do that." 
TERENCE
SMITH: While critics complain that the press frequently doesn't follow
any rules at the scene of a crime, the Society of Professional Journalists
points out that its code of ethics specifically urges minimizing harm
to victims or relatives. But even some journalists concede the press
isn't uniformly responsible. 
RICK
ROSENTHAL, RAR Communications: If you are a victim, or if you see someone
who is a victim of media assault, or media battery, or media brutality,
you cannot let it stand. You must not. 
COMMANDER
DEB ANNIBALI, Vali, Colorado, Police Department: Obviously, you can't
take back what's already occurred. Assure them that you will try to
find out, you know, where the error took place and why that happened.
RICK
HOLFORD, Moffett County, Colorado, Sheriff's Dept.: I think sometimes
the media will try to coerce more than we can actually give them. I
think whatever information they can get to give the public, especially
if it's a bit sensational, they'll try to coerce that out of us. So
I think sometimes heads clash there. 
SUE
YOUNG: They had me on tape. They had me on video. They had everything
I had to say. But I asked them, "would you please take that all
off the record? And let's start over." And to a person, they honored
that request. Not a single, solitary person scooped the story because
they put my daughter's life above a news story. 
BONNIE
BUEQUEROX: No self-respecting editor would send someone to cover the
Friday night football game who didn't know football, but they'll take
the rookie and send them out after the individual's had their family
wiped out by a drunk driver. And it's almost a test of fire in some
cases that they do this with young journalists. 
SUE
YOUNG: I tell them to be a human being first and a reporter second,
because I believe that in so doing, that you can serve a tremendous,
tremendous good for the community.