Copyright © 1998 by the Boston Phoenix, Inc. All rights reserved.

This Just In: Media

When policy and news collide

By Dan Kennedy and S.I. Rosenbaum

Virtually every news organization has a strict policy against identifying the victims of alleged sexual assaults. But even the clearest policy can fall by the wayside when an important breaking story turns out to be messier than well-intentioned editors could have envisioned. Such was the case in Chatham last weekend, when a widely reported hostage-taking crisis was suddenly complicated by accusations of rape.

On Sunday, both the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald reported that international death-penalty activist Lori Urs and her 14-year-old daughter were being held hostage in their home by John Nutter, an obviously disturbed man who had been involved with Urs previously.

But after the crisis ended and Nutter was charged with raping the mother, the Monday Globe and Herald diverged. The Globe continued to report both the mother's and the daughter's names, and justified the violation of policy by arguing that "since the two women allegedly taken hostage had previously been named in published reports, the Globe decided to report that Lori Urs is the alleged rape victim." The Herald did not publish either name, explaining that "the Herald will not identify them since police are trying to determine if they were both raped."

As it turned out, Nutter was later charged with four counts of raping the daughter as well. And on Tuesday, the Globe stopped identifying the daughter, although it continued to publish the mother's name.

The case has been a dilemma not just for the Globe and the Herald, but for other media as well. New England Cable News stopped identifying the women as soon as the rape charges were filed on Sunday. WCVB-TV (Channel 5) stopped identifying the mother only after it was learned that Nutter had also been charged with raping her daughter. WBZ-TV (Channel 4) never named either woman, even before Nutter was charged with rape. WHDH-TV (Channel 7) and WFXT-TV (Channel 25) identified the mother but not her daughter, and both stations had dropped the story by the time the rape charges were filed. WBUR Radio and the Associated Press continued to name the mother, but not her daughter, after the rape charges were filed.

The main purpose of not identifying alleged rape victims is to protect them from being stigmatized in their communities. Yet the Cape Cod media have, if anything, been less skittish than Boston's. Of course, the notion of trying to put the toothpaste back into the tube would appear particularly ludicrous on the Cape, where the mother is even more of a public figure than she is in Greater Boston. The Cape Cod Times, like the Globe, reported both women's names on Monday, but by Tuesday had pulled back the daughter's name. WQRC Radio has continued to report the mother's name, but not the daughter's. The Cape Cod Journal, a new online publication, identified both women even while reporting that Nutter had been charged with raping the daughter as well as the mother.

This isn't the first time the Globe and the Herald have taken a different tack on a widely publicized rape case. Last year, when the late Michael Kennedy was being investigated for possible statutory rape, the Globe repeatedly identified the alleged victim's family (but not the girl herself), whereas the Herald maintained a strict policy of silence. However, it seemed clear in that case that the Globe had received the family's permission, something editor Matt Storin implicitly acknowledged when questioned about it by the Phoenix ("This Just In," News, May 9, 1997).

The Cape Cod case is much tougher, given the fact that the mother is a well-known activist and that her and her daughter's names had been reported before anyone knew that rape charges were involved.

Not that Herald editor Andy Costello had to think hard about what to do. He calls the fact that the names had been reported earlier "a very convenient excuse" and says, "If you've got principles, you stick to them." Globe managing editor Greg Moore, on the other hand, says that because Urs and her daughter had already been identified, "the whole purpose of our policy -- to provide some anonymity for alleged rape victims -- had been defeated." He says the Globe decided to stop naming the daughter after Nutter was charged with raping her because even though the mother is a public figure, her daughter is not. He adds that the mother was given an opportunity, through intermediaries, to express her concerns about the Globe's decision, and that she has not contacted the paper.

Cheryl Garrity, president of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Organization for Women, says an alleged rape victim shouldn't be identified without her permission under any circumstance, "even though she was in the public eye." But, she concedes, "this one gets very complicated." There are no media good guys or bad guys here -- just some difficult questions.