The news media play a significant

role in public safety by providing

important information about the

nature and extent of crime

occurring in communities

and efforts to

prevent crime

and assist

victims.

However, this

coverage

sometimes raises

legitimate concerns

about the rights of

crime victims to privacy

in the vulnerable

aftermath of victimization,

particularly in high profile

cases. In some cases, victims

perceive aggressive, insensitive

reporting as a direct threat to their

ability to grieve with dignity and

to their personal safety.

Timely and sensitive

coverage of victims’ cases

can be helpful, particularly when it publicizes

the abduction of a

missing child or

provides information on emergency

crisis services

following a

communitywide disaster.

High-profile coverage

of specific cases and emerging

crimes has contributed to positive

changes in public policy, including

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office for Victims of Crime

New Directions from the Field:

Victims’ Rights and Services for the 21st Century

News Media Community

Within the last decade, both crime victims and journalists have

begun to ask whether crime reporting is victimizing the victims

again. The issue is not what newspapers and the electronic media

have a right to do legally. It's what we ought to do ethically. The

records of crime and its prosecution are public records. The public has a right to know. But where does that right to know end,

and where do the privacy rights of private citizens begin?1

Tommy Thomason, Professor of Journalism, Texas Christian University

1

Message from

The Director

New Directions from the Field: Victims’ Rights and

Services for the 21st Century is a comprehensive

report and set of recommendations on victims’

rights and services from and concerning virtually every

community involved with crime victims across the

nation. The report represents a significant maturation

in the field of victims’ rights and services since the

President’s Task Force on Victims of Crime released

its Final Report in 1982. New Directions chronicles

the extraordinary accomplishments of a still young

field, but also recommends what we as a society

should strive to achieve for victims as we enter the

21st century.

New Directions is the culmination of more than 3

years’ work by over 1,000 individuals in the victims

field including crime victims, representatives from

national victim advocacy and service organizations,

criminal justice practitioners, allied professionals, and

many others. In addition, literally hundreds of reference documents were utilized and listed in the endnotes of each of the 18 chapters. The work of these

individuals and the publication and dissemination of

this material has been supported by the Office for

Victims of Crime (OVC). The report and recommendations represent views from the field, however, and do

not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of

Justice. Moreover, while the recommendations may

not reflect all of the individual contributors’ views, the

contributors agree that all of the recommendations are

worthy of discussion and consideration.

This bulletin is a reprint of chapter 13 from New

Directions and deals specifically with promising practices and recommendations related to the News Media

Community. As we move into the 21st century, New

Directions should serve as a vitally useful guide for

developing policies, programs, and practices on behalf

of crime victims well into the next century. As comprehensive as this report is, however, the real challenge

begins now. After you read the recommendations, after

you have examined the numerous promising practices

presented in each section, then I encourage you to move

forward to see how you can implement improvements in

a manner that meets the needs of crime victims.

Kathryn M. Turman

Acting Director

Office for Victims of Crime

Office for Victims of Crime

OVC Bulletin

Advocating for the Fair Treatment of Crime Victims

New Directions

News Media Community

14 of 19
New Directions from the Field: Victims’ Rights and Services for the 21st Century

2

recognition of the need for community

notification of released sex offenders

and anti-stalking statutes. It has also

helped to change public attitudes about

the seriousness of violent crimes such

as drunk driving and rape. But the

media can have a negative impact on

individual lives when victims are

thrust, often unwillingly, into the

limelight solely because of the crimes

committed against them. Inaccurate

reporting and insensitivity to victims’

needs for privacy compound the

trauma of crime and often revictimize

the victim. 

The President’s Task Force on Victims

of Crime did not issue recommendations specifically pertaining to the

news media, although the longstanding

ethical dilemma surrounding the

public's right to know versus the

victim's right to privacy has received

substantial attention from media

professionals, legal scholars, and

crime victims and their advocates. One

of the first formal examinations of the

legal and ethical considerations of this

crucial issue took place in 1986 at a

Crime Victims and the News Media

symposium in Fort Worth, Texas,

sponsored by the Texas Christian

University Department of Journalism

and the Gannett Foundation. The

symposium’s participants concluded

that ensuring responsible media

coverage of crime and victimization is

a two-way street. Journalists must

become more knowledgeable about

crime victims' needs and concerns, and

victim service providers must learn

more about issues and constraints

journalists face when covering crime.2

During the past decade, increasing

numbers of media professionals have

sought sensitivity training from crime

victims and victim advocates to both

improve the accuracy of their coverage

and minimize the trauma it causes to

victims. Today, crime victims and

service providers offer training

programs to newsrooms, professional

journalism associations, and university-level journalism classes about

media sensitivity in addressing

violence and victimization.

In the past decade, several national

victim advocacy organizations have

developed media codes of ethics. A

brochure published in 1987 by the

National Victim Center (NVC),

Victims’Rights in the Media, offers

valuable guidelines for the ethical

coverage of crime victims by print and

broadcast media. In addition, the

National Organization for Victim

Assistance has developed a working

policy for media coverage of victimization in The Victim Advocate’s Guide

to the Media that examines the areas

of greatest concern to crime victims

and their families. 

Research Regarding Coverage

of Sexual Assault Victims

Various studies indicate that crime

victims, especially sexual assault

victims, would be more likely to

participate in the criminal justice

system if the media were more

respectful of their privacy. Data from

The National Women's Study

presented in Rape in America: A

Report to the Nation found that 84

percent of rape victims in America do

not report the crime to police. The

study reported that:

• Half of rape victims (50 percent)

would be “a lot more likely to

report” to police if there was a law

prohibiting the news media from

disclosing their name and address;

16 percent indicated that they

would be “somewhat more likely

to report” rapes to the police.

• Almost 9 out of 10 women (86

percent) felt victims would be

“less likely” to report rapes if they

felt their names would be disclosed 

by the news media.

• An overwhelming majority of

women (75 percent), rape victims

(78 percent), and rape service

agencies (91 percent) favored

legislation that would prohibit

media disclosure of rape victims’

names.3

Recent surveys of American newspaper editors have shown that, as a

general rule, many do not print the

names of rape victims. In 1982, a

study found that 68 percent of the

editors surveyed believed that names

of rape victims should not be printed.4

In 1990, another survey of editors

indicated that about 10 percent

believed that the rape victims’ names

should never be printed; 40 percent

believed that they should be printed

only with the victims’ permission; and

44 percent believed that they should

be printed only in exceptional cases.5

Furthermore, more news media today

are examining their policies on

covering rape. A 1994 survey of

newspaper editors revealed that:

• The topic of rape coverage had

been discussed extensively in

respondents' newsrooms, with

nearly 60 percent of editors noting

that their paper had seriously reexamined its policy on rape identification and 55 percent reporting

that they had re-examined their

policy on rape coverage in general.
• More than 40 percent of editors

believed their newspaper was 

more sensitive toward rape victims

than it was 5 years before, and

more than 50 percent said they

believed newspapers as a whole

were more sensitive.

• Almost one-fourth of the editors

(23 percent) disagreed with the

idea that routine printing of the

names of rape victims would

remove the stigma of rape.

• Only 24 percent of editors agreed

that not printing names of rape

victims was a violation of the

public's right to know. 

The survey also indicated that editors

believe that the decision to withhold a

name should be the newspaper's and

not mandated by legislation prohibiting the press from publishing the

name of a sexual assault victim.

Almost three-fourths of editors

believed that such laws should be

repealed because they violate the

First Amendment.6

Guidelines for Journalists 

Who Cover Crime and 

Victims’ Cases

The impact of media coverage on

crime victims and survivors—

positive or negative—depends to a

large degree on the sensitivity with

which journalists approach their

reporting. Written guidelines

incorporated into a news organization’s policies, much like the

guidelines news organizations have

adopted in other sensitive areas, can

provide journalists basic principles of

ethical coverage of victimization.

Once in place, they can be used as a

tool for initial and ongoing professional education of media employees. 

The guidelines on privacy issues

developed by the St. Louis PostDispatch provide an example of

ethical standards for major newspapers. They address such key issues

as publishing names and addresses of

crime victims and witnesses,

interviewing family members of

victims of crime, dealing with

victims of crime who are juveniles,

taking photographs that portray

victims or survivors in private

moments of deep emotion, and

covering funerals, sexual abuse,

incest cases, and kidnaping involving

sexual abuse.7

The following has been excerpted

from the Post-Dispatch guidelines to

provide an example of what news

organizations can do to ensure more

responsible news reporting on crime

and victimization and, in particular,

vulnerable victims.

VICTIMS OF CRIME:

General.

Crime victims often suffer long-term

psychological problems that scar

their lives. In many cases, victims

identified in news stories about the

crime involving them are further

traumatized. Some feel humiliated by

the community knowing what has

happened to them. Others fear the

criminal who victimized them, or his

associates, will somehow use the

information from the news story to

threaten or harm them. Still others

are afraid that the publicity has

opened them to harassment from

psychotic strangers.

Our policy on crime victims should

provide readers with the most 

relevant information while underlining our concern for the well-being of

the victimized.

VICTIMS OF CRIME: Names

and addresses.

The general policy will be to publish

the names of crime victims as an

integral element of news stories.

Names will not be used of victims of

sex crimes, pigeon drops and scams or

other crimes that tend to humiliate or

degrade the victim.

Names will not be used if identification is likely to endanger the life or

health of the victim. Any request by

police, a victim or representative of

the victim to withhold the name from

New Directions from the Field: Victims’ Rights and Services for the 21st Century

3

When tragedy strikes, journalists are

thrust into chaos and forced to make

decisions on the fly. These decisions can

impact the lives of everyone involved.

Both journalists and criminal justice

professionals must work as a team to

meet the needs of the public while also

protecting the rights of the victims. By

understanding how the media works,

criminal justice professionals can help

reporters get the information the public

needs to know. By understanding

victims’rights, reporters can avoid the

common errors of judgment that cause

victims needless pain.

Robert Davis, National Reporter,

USA Today
New Directions from the Field: Victims’ Rights and Services for the 21st Century

4

a news story for reasons of health or

safety should be given great weight.

An exception to the policy of nonidentification will be made for victims

of degrading crimes who want to be

identified or who seek publicity to

serve as an example for others.

PHOTOGRAPHS.

Some of the sharpest controversies

over invasions of privacy have

resulted from sensational spot news

photos at scenes of violent crime or

other tragedy. . . . A common

dilemma is the picture of the grieving

relative. Such an image might capture

a private moment of deep emotion that

dramatizes the event in starkly human

terms. But the intrusion of the press at

that moment may be resented by many

readers, not to mention the subject of

the photograph. . .

Care must be taken in publishing

pictures of victims of crime and

tragedy, and relatives of victims. As a

general rule, photographers should

identify themselves and seek permission from the subjects to take such

pictures, especially on private property.

SEX ABUSE: General.

The general policy of the PostDispatch is to question the use of

names in all stories of a sexual nature.

In reporting on sex crimes, our policy

should be aimed at alerting the

community and protecting the victim.

Thus, we reiterate our long-standing

policy of not naming rape victims and

using only the most general identifying information, while naming and

further identifying the accused when a

warrant is issued.8

Legislation to Protect the

Identity of Crime Victims

Feeling that the media’s attempts to

regulate themselves through victimsensitive guidelines have not been

adequate to protect victims, legislators

have enacted laws to force more

sensitive coverage. Some of these

laws, however, have been held to be

unconstitutional. In State v. Globe

Communications Corp., the Florida

Supreme Court held that a Florida

criminal statute that prohibited the

media from identifying the names of

sexual assault victims violated the

First Amendment.9 In that case, Globe

Communications Corp. twice

published the name and identifying

information of a sexual assault victim,

violating the Florida statute. The

paper had lawfully learned the victim’s

name through investigation. The

Florida Supreme Court relied on the

U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in

Florida Star v. B.J.F., finding that the

Florida statute barring any media

publication of a rape victim’s name

was unconstitutional because it was

“overbroad”; that is, it punished the

media even if, for example, the name

of the victim was already known in the

community.

10 It also found that the

statute was “underinclusive” in that it

punished only media publication and

not acts by a private person. 

Similarly, the U.S. Supreme Court in

Cox Broadcasting Corporation v.

Cohn ruled unconstitutional a Georgia

statute that imposed civil liability on

media for publishing a rape victim’s

name.11 In Cox, the news station had

obtained the victim’s name from

public court records—a factor the

Supreme Court held to be important,

noting that “the First and Fourteenth

Amendments command nothing less

than that the States may not impose

sanctions on the publication of truthful

information contained in official court

records open to public inspection.”12

Following these cases, several states

enacted privacy statutes to conform

with the First Amendment.13 The

legislation limits access of the public,

including the media, to records that

might otherwise readily reveal

victims’ names. For example, Florida’s

Crime Victims Protection Act, passed

in 1995, strengthened the exception to

the definition of public records by

excluding court information containing

the identity of victims of sexual crimes

or child abuse.14 While the new Florida

statutes provide that the victim’s

identity may be released to the

defendant and defense attorney, they

also establish a specific procedure that,

at the victim’s request, can be

employed to allow a trial court to

determine that the victim’s identity

may not be made public through the

court’s proceedings or records. 

Recommendations from the

Field for the News Media 

NEWS MEDIA RECOMMENDATION 

FROM THE FIELD #1

The news media should adopt

codes of ethics or guiding principles that clearly delineate policies

sensitive to and respectful of crime

victims. These guidelines should

include policies that discourage

the identification of victims of

sexual assault and other vulnerable victims, including children,

without the victim’s consent. 
Written guidelines similar to those

developed by the St. Louis PostDispatch can provide basic principles

to guide ethical coverage of victimization. A number of news media

organizations have established

informal policies and practices to

protect the privacy of sexual assault

victims and children. However, these

policies are often not given the

authority of written guidelines. Both

print and broadcast media should

adopt written guidelines and provide

training to employees regarding

standards for their coverage of crime

victims. Written guidelines should

serve as a foundation for making

difficult decisions about coverage—

decisions frequently made hastily

under deadline pressures. 

NEWS MEDIA RECOMMENDATION 

FROM THE FIELD #2

News organizations, victims, and

victim-serving providers should

sponsor frequent educational

forums for journalists on sensitive

media coverage of crime and

victimization. 

Journalists should be educated about

how to cover sensitive stories involving crime victims, with training and

technical assistance from victim

service providers as well as crime

victims themselves. Professional

media organizations should incorporate this training and panel discussions of sensitive coverage of

victimization into their state, regional,

and national conferences.

NEWS MEDIA RECOMMENDATION 

FROM THE FIELD #3

University departments of journalism should incorporate curricula

that teach students about sensitivity to victims in the news media's

coverage of crime. 

Information and guidelines for

dealing with crime victims should be

incorporated into curricula for college

and university classes in communications and journalism. Courses should

cover the trauma of victimization,

crime victims’ privacy and safety

concerns, services available to

victims, and developing cooperative

relationships with law enforcement

and criminal justice officials in the

coverage of crime and victimization.

Victims themselves should be invited

to classes to discuss their experiences

with the media. Universities and

colleges should use the handbook

Crime Victims and the Media,

published by the National Victims

Center in 1989, as a resource for

incorporating these topics in their

journalism and mass media courses.

NEWS MEDIA RECOMMENDATION 

FROM THE FIELD #4

Victim service providers should

receive education about media

relations and how to be a

valuable resource for the press.

Training and technical assistance

for service providers should be

made available from professionals in the journalism community.

In addition to training, guidelines for

providing support and guidance to

victims about dealing with the news

media in the aftermath of a crime

should be made available to victim

service professionals, law enforcement,

prosecutors, clergy members, and

others who might be called upon to

provide advocacy and assistance. With

funding from the Office for Victims of

Crime, both the National Victim

Assistance Academy, sponsored by the

Victims’Assistance Legal Organization

and a consortium of universities, and

the National Organization for Victim

Assistance have developed curricula

that outline tools and strategies to help

victim assistance providers work with

the media.

NEWS MEDIA RECOMMENDATION 

FROM THE FIELD #5

The victim service and mental

health professions, in conjunction

with media representatives,

should develop debriefing

protocols to help journalists cope

with the trauma and stress of

covering crime and victimization.

New Directions from the Field: Victims’ Rights and Services for the 21st Century

5

I hurt when I hear about [crime]

happening to other people, when I turn

on the news or pick up the newspaper.

But when it’s yours that’s on the news or

in the newspaper, it’s like a dream. And

you’re wondering when you are going to

wake up.

Wife of a shooting victim
Reporters, photographers, camerapersons, and editors are confronted with a

daily barrage of violence and tragedy,

with little guidance on how to cope

with the personal trauma of witnessing

and reporting these events. Some

journalists are themselves victims of

crimes similar to those they are

assigned to cover. 

Representatives of the news media,

victim service providers, and the

mental health community should

work together to produce a protocol

to give journalists who cover crime

and victimization a means to

address the stressful nature of their

careers. News organizations should

establish a debriefing and counseling program for all journalists who

need such assistance. 

NEWS MEDIA RECOMMENDATION 

FROM THE FIELD #6

State public policy leaders and

media representatives should

explore the development of

legislation that would appropriately limit general public 

access to confidential information

about sensitive victims.

As the U.S. Supreme Court has

made clear, efforts to provide

legislative protection of victims’

privacy must take into account the

important interests of the First

Amendment. Several states have

developed statutes that secure

victims’ privacy by eliminating

confidential identifying information

from public records. Other states

may want to review these statutes.

New Directions from the Field: Victims’ Rights and Services for the 21st Century

6

I’d like to see an article on how to avoid

a specific abuser characteristic, or to

make your apartment or car safe before

assaults, abuse, or rape. So much can

be done if people took an interest in

saving people from abuse, and death

from abuse.

A domestic violence victim
Endnotes

1 Thomason, Dr. T., “Compassion, Concern Mark Symposium,” in CRIME VICTIMS AND THE NEWS MEDIA, Fort Worth, TX: Texas

Christian University, 1986:2.

2 Id.

3 Kilpatrick, D., C. Edmunds, and A. Seymour, Rape in America: A Report to the Nation, Arlington, VA: National Victim Center and the

Medical University of South Carolina, National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, 1992.

4 Oukrop, C. E., Views of Newspaper Gatekeepers on Rape and Rape Coverage, Manhattan, KS: Kansas City University, 1982:21.

5 Winch, S. P., On Naming Rape Victims: How Editors Stand on the Issue, Minneapolis, MN: Paper presented at AEJMC National

Convention, 1991.

6 Thomason, Dr. T. and P. LaRocque, Newspaper Coverage of Rape: Editors Still Reluctant to Name the Victim, Fort Worth, TX: Texas

Christian University, 1994:11-12.

7 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Post-Dispatch Guidelines on Privacy Issues, St. Louis, MO: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 21-30.

8 Id.

9 648 So.2d 110 (Fla. 1994).

10 491 U.S. 524 (1989).

11 420 U.S. 469 (1975).

12 420 U.S. at 495.

13 E.g., ALA. CODE § 15-23-69(b) (1995); ALASKA STAT. §§ 12.61.100-12.61.150 (1991); MASS. GEN. LAWS. ch. 258B, § 3(h) (1988).

14 FLA. STAT. §92.56, 119.07 (1995).

New Directions from the Field: Victims’ Rights and Services for the 21st Century

7
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Washington, D.C. 20531

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