As the press over here wails and gnashes its teeth and the corridors of power resound to the sound of hand-wringing, I thought it might be a salutary time to give you a couple examples of journalism from over the water.
Now, you may or may not be aware of the Steubenville rape case. Basic facts are as follows: girl is blind drunk at party and therefore incapable of giving consent. Girl is raped and sexually humiliated by two local high school football stars. Said rapists are subsequently found guilty. There is the normal wailing from some quarters that convicting rapists is somehow unfair, she was "asking for it", all the usual bile and filth. Some choice examples here. The case gains an added piquancy from the whole fractured small-town narrative, is seasoned liberally with issues of athlete-worship, and given a shot of social media tequila just to crank the whole thing up a notch or three.
So far, so depressing. Though I confess to some pleasant surprise at a guilty verdict being returned.
Now, you'd imagine that in a proven case of rape, the coverage of the perpertrators would be damning, and that of the victim sympathetic, wouldn't you? You would, as it turns out, be wrong. CNN has found itself at the centre of a shitstorm entirely of its own making after anchor Candy Crowley and reporter Poppy Harlow talked of how difficult it was to watch the (guilty as sin) defendants breaking into tears, about how talented they were.
Ahem.
Still, at least certain journalistic standards were being maintained, I mean, you don't publish the name of an abuse victim, do you? I mean you get banged up for that over here, it's the sort of thing that idiots on Twitter do, not, y'know, broadcasters.
Unless they happen to be Fox News.
Words fail me.
Now, you may or may not be aware of the Steubenville rape case. Basic facts are as follows: girl is blind drunk at party and therefore incapable of giving consent. Girl is raped and sexually humiliated by two local high school football stars. Said rapists are subsequently found guilty. There is the normal wailing from some quarters that convicting rapists is somehow unfair, she was "asking for it", all the usual bile and filth. Some choice examples here. The case gains an added piquancy from the whole fractured small-town narrative, is seasoned liberally with issues of athlete-worship, and given a shot of social media tequila just to crank the whole thing up a notch or three.
So far, so depressing. Though I confess to some pleasant surprise at a guilty verdict being returned.
Now, you'd imagine that in a proven case of rape, the coverage of the perpertrators would be damning, and that of the victim sympathetic, wouldn't you? You would, as it turns out, be wrong. CNN has found itself at the centre of a shitstorm entirely of its own making after anchor Candy Crowley and reporter Poppy Harlow talked of how difficult it was to watch the (guilty as sin) defendants breaking into tears, about how talented they were.
Ahem.
Still, at least certain journalistic standards were being maintained, I mean, you don't publish the name of an abuse victim, do you? I mean you get banged up for that over here, it's the sort of thing that idiots on Twitter do, not, y'know, broadcasters.
Unless they happen to be Fox News.
Words fail me.