mepham update: commentary free
No time to editorialize on this one, time to pack up my desk and head home for a three day weekend.
Feel free to read and comment. Links to previous stories of mine here.
I'm seriously giving thought to driving over to Mepham right now to see if I can score an interview with some of the kids.
Comments
The reference to the"alleged victims" rubbed me the wrong way.Anybody else bugged by that little aside?
Posted by: mbruce | October 3, 2003 03:36 PM
mbruce, that's the writer's way of covering their ass, and it's used all the time in cases that have not yet gone to court. Granted, in this case, it's pretty obvious they're victims, but the writer isn't taking any chances.
Posted by: Ryan | October 3, 2003 03:39 PM
I didn't like the "alleged" bit either. The victims are NOT alleged. Until/unless proven in a court of law the perpetrators are "alleged", but unless one thinks that no crime happened or it happened to someone else, I don't see how the victims can be "alleged". (Not that I'm a lawyer or anything.)
Of course I don't see how the media can use "alleged" about suspects who have been caught on video and confessed either....
"I do not think that word means what you think it means."
Posted by: LibraryGryffon | October 3, 2003 04:42 PM
Yes, the "alleged" part irks me as much as anybody, but the paper has to print that, otherwise they're just setting themselves up for a lawsuit. Let's remember that, however much it angers us, there must be a presumption of innoncence in the public forum. In a private forum like this, we can be mad and assume guilt all we want.
From the story itself: "The tumult had been building for weeks. In an interview, Todd Frenchman, whose son plays on the team, criticized the cancellation, saying, 'They made the entire team guilty by association.'"
How dare they! What about the team members who had knowledge of the molestation and came forward and . . . oh, wait, never mind. Well, what about the team members who discouraged the . . . oh, never mind again.
Posted by: ScottC | October 3, 2003 08:06 PM