Use of a Child’s Name in Journalism
On Tuesday February 26, many journalism students sat in the Hub-Robeson auditorium to listen to the annual Oweida Lecture. Bill Marimow was the speaker for this year’s lecture. Marimow is an editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer and former managing editor of National Public Radio. Due to working in the journalism industry for some time, Marimow has come across various obstacles in regards to ethics and how a journalist should handle a situation.
Part 1: Situation Definition
In his lecture, Marimow brought up two situations where he questioned whether an action would be ethical or not. One was a case concerning a boy called Little Isaac. This boy was a lookout for a drug operation in Baltimore at the young age of ten. A reporter interviewed Little Isaac and was going to run the story in the Baltimore Sun. The main concern in this story was reporting Little Isaac’s full name and putting his picture in the paper. Little Isaac’s mother was present during the interview and signed a consent form that allowed the reporter to publish the story. Marimow said he was uncomfortable with publishing Little Isaac’s name and photo because the boy’s mother seemed to be under the influence at the time of the interview and therefore her consent was not legitimate. Eventually, Little Isaac’s full name was not released in the story and neither was a clear picture of him.
Another case Marimow discussed was in regards to a five year-old girl who was kidnapped from her elementary school and possibly sexually assaulted. A person claimed to be related to the little girl and kidnapped her from school. The girl’s name and photo were broadcasted throughout the nation due to an Amber Alert. When she was found the next morning, it seemed that she had been sexually assaulted. The parents did not want the girl’s name or photo in any future stories. The editors decided to just use the girl’s name because it was already broadcasted across the nation. Eventually, a reporter felt uncomfortable with using the girl’s name and now neither her name nor picture is used in stories.
Part 2: Analysis
Using a victim’s name is an ethical situation that many journalists will come across in their careers. It is already difficult to publish a child’s name in an article, let alone a child who was a victim of assault or witnessed a crime. In the article “Policies on identification of people in crime stories”, about 11 percent of the 90 newspapers in the study said “they never include a child’s name in any sort of sensitive article” (Thayer & Pasternack, 1994). The sensitive articles include children who are victims of abuse, crime, or even died. This shows that newspapers take publishing a child’s name very seriously. The newspapers also make these decisions by discussing it in the newsroom with colleagues (Thayer & Pasternack, 1994). In the article “The Right to Know vs. the Right of Privacy-Newspaper Identification of Crime Victims”, it is said that editors are now listening to victims in regards to publishing names even though their first reaction was to publish the name (Wolf, Thomason, & LaRocque, 1987). The editors in the case involving the little girl did listen to the girl’s parents and did not publish her name in future stories.
Part 3: Conclusion
Newsrooms may a general set of rules that the journalists must adhere to, but these rules cannot apply to all cases. I believe that the editors of the Baltimore Sun made the right decision in not publishing Little Isaac’s name or picture in the story. He was a lookout for members of a drug gang. There was no way to insure his safety after publishing his name in the article. I also believe Marimow and other editors were correct in listening to the little girl’s parents by not publishing her name in future articles even though her name was already known due to the Amber Alert.
Part 4: References
Thayer, F., & Pasternack, S. (1994). Policies on identification of people in crime stories. Newspaper Research Journal, 15(2), 56-64.
The Right to Know vs. the Right of Privacy: Newspaper Identification of Crime Victims. (1987). Journalism Quarterly, 64(2), 503-507.