RSS FeedOnline Legal Reporting Trumps CNN
The video is hard to turn away from. A sobbing 16-year-old sits in her bedroom and, staring into a camera, says she has been raped.
This is how CNN covers a story of a 16-year old that posted a video on YouTube after the state attorney in Orange County, Florida dropper her case of being raped. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-1iIPiE38g[/youtube] They then go on to warn of the dangers of divulging too much personal information online, and tout the benefits of a counselling service that would probably be more effective. The problem is that the CNN reporter probably did not even bother to read case transcript, available free from the Orange County Clerk of Courts. Instead, the real story broke on The Smoking Gun, which related how the young girl changed her story of a consensual relationship after the case was dismissed, and had cited personal grievances and a break-up as the reason for the complaint. The case sheet itself leads with,
Due to the consensual nature of the sex encounter… I’m using prosecutorial discretion and am not filing the case…
Commentators on the case have wondered if the accused now has a case against her for libel and slander. Others have wondered how a small website could conduct a more thorough investigation than a multi-million dollar international news agency. The power and importance of small media web outlets are only beginning to be felt.
