boy's picture.
The story said the boy was in a relationship with a 22-year-old woman, whose ex-boyfriend tipped off police that she was having sex with a minor. Police have opened an investigation, the story said.
Almost all news organizations refrain from identifying sex crime victims, let alone show their picture, because of the stigma often attached to it, said Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at the journalism think tank Poynter Institute.
I get a LOT of flak from people about who I am and what I represent, however, one thing that I have gotten credit for, is complete ethics with my readers.
You know when you email me that I'm not going to splash it across the front page of the site without your permission. Plus, you know the only thing that's going to be altered is I will send your email through spell check.
While there's a part of me that says "14 year old boy banging a 22 year old woman? Nice!", because it is technically a sex crime, you will NEVER see me post the names of victims of crimes of that nature.
Sure, I do make mistakes from time to time, but some things just should never be done. Simply because this boy is the son of a movie star, TMZ seems to think it's ok to print his name AND picture.
I guess I'm a dying breed of journalist. One who reports the truth and lets readers decide how to think about it. Sure, I'm biased, but I don't tell my readers "You need to think this way". Come to your own conclusions, debate me about mine, it's all in the spirit of the freedoms we enjoy in our home nation.
Travis
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