College paper editor details sexual assault

[Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.]

From the Daily Campus at UConn:

www.dailycampus.com (although the story isn't working at the moment).

Hartford Courant also has it:

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-uconnassault0503.artmay03,0,2579185.story

[step on soapbox]

From time to time we discuss on here the role of those comments. Could someone tell me how these stupid ****ing comment boxes help a story, such as this one? Is this what the bigwigs at newspapers think...how can we involve the community...I know, let's have them write counter-productive tomes on any subject? BRILLIANT! These are among the 88 that are presently with that story

Sounds like she made up the whole story to get attention and make her boyfriend feel guilty.. She was drunk and ran into the "rape trail." C'mon... PLease.. A good police interrogator is needed..Can you say,"Filing a false report?"

Or this?

Sick drunk kids who have very little values, They screw **** and enjoy it.
I bet the Asian students were not at the drunk sex party.
You see the Asians have family values, Our young ladies are a reflection of society. so is Clinton, and the rest of the pigs in Washington.
If the editor displayed her boobs and belly then she is like a pig in heat
It is partly her own fault.
Get rid of the orgy and think

I cannot believe that some rational person actually think some girl who reports something like this must either be a) faking it or b) she had it coming to her. **** that. If it comes out later that she did, deal with it then. But until that point...open your god damn mouth and stick your foot in it.

[stepping off soapbox]

I went to UConn. Spring weekend is a crazy time. However, most of the damage/arrests happens because of non-UConn people.

However, this is one thing that I find very hard to believe is going to go away.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Coincidentally a PD reporter details her own rape 23 years prior while working on a PD story. Comments enabled.

These women are not alone:

http://videos.cleveland.com/plain-dealer/2008/05/beyond_rape_a_survivors_journe.html

 

[VJ]

It's appalling that comments are enabled on stories that deal with a subject matter like rape.

 

[Cadet]

It's not just subjects like rape that get the crazies out. Every time my paper publishes even the most boring traffic accident brief, we get a ton of "must be an illegal alien because Americans know how to drive, send the brown people back to Mexico!" comments. It's sickening.

 

[Flash]

Why are we still facing the 'what she was wearing' argument? Jeebus, where's Darwin when you need him?

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Fighting off Ben Stein, I think, Flash.
Those comment threads make me think old Buzz was onto something.

 

[VJ]

The illegal immigrants comments don't bother me as much because they aren't singling out one individual person. But to have someone show the courage to discuss publicly what happened to her, only to open herself up to ridicule and insults in a public forum is disgusting.

But, hey, I bet it drew tons of hits to the website so yay! ::)

 

[forever_town]

Here's another example of why I will oppose allowing readers to comment at my shop.

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

Here's another example of why I will oppose allowing readers to comment at my shop.

I don't think it's cut and dry. But in this case -- absolutely unnecessary. It probably adds a few hits because of people coming back to see what others write, but journalistically, there's no advantage to it here.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Let them write letters to the editor, and we'll decide what gets printed or not.

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

Let them write letters to the editor, and we'll decide what gets printed or not.

I've said this before, and if I'm wrong, someone please correct me, but I believe the Miami Herald used or used an intern to monitor comments on its Web site.

 

[Tom Petty]

We monitor our comments, and remove inappropriate ones. We also ban folks who consistently post inappropriate stuff.

there are not enough papers like yours.

 

[friend of a friend]

We monitor our comments, and remove inappropriate ones. We also ban folks who consistently post inappropriate stuff.

there are not enough papers like yours.

As long as we get the hits, we don't care.

And by we, I mean them.

 

[Tom Petty]

We monitor our comments, and remove inappropriate ones. We also ban folks who consistently post inappropriate stuff.

there are not enough papers like yours.

As long as we get the hits, we don't care.

And by we, I mean them.

**** them.

 

[steveu]

It's not just subjects like rape that get the crazies out. Every time my paper publishes even the most boring traffic accident brief, we get a ton of "must be an illegal alien because Americans know how to drive, send the brown people back to Mexico!" comments. It's sickening.

Americans know how to drive? Ever get stuck behind a gray hair going 20 in a 55 zone? Or out in Kansas where the speed limit on some roads appears to be 15? (Sorry, Kansans. :) )

As for the original subject, rape's not funny or worth derogatory comments like that. That's bull****.

 

[leo1]

what i can't understand is why certain stories - say, uh, um, duh, you know, anything to do with sexual assault , pedophilia, etc., - aren't automatically exempt from comments. the newsroom should give its web editors discretion and allow editors to err on the side of banning comments from more, rather than fewer stories. i think most newspapers that allow comments on articles have a general comments page so just put on a generic tagline allowing comments elsewhere.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

TO OUR READERS:

After careful deliberations, we have decided that many of you are simply too gross to comment on this story. So if you're in the mood to spew, kindly head on over the sports section where some are speculating on whether the local baseball coach will make it to midseason.

REGARDS,

The editors


I think editors deserve what they get when they abdicate their role of editors and allow unfettered comments on any story. But I don't think the answer is deciding which stories are fair game for comments and which aren't. Just admit that the whole damn thing hasn't done anything for newspapers from either a business or taste standpoint and stop it completely.

 

[gingerbread]

TO OUR READERS:

After careful deliberations, we have decided that many of you are simply too gross to comment on this story. So if you're in the mood to spew, kindly head on over the sports section where some are speculating on whether the local baseball coach will make it to midseason.

REGARDS,

The editors


I think editors deserve what they get when they abdicate their role of editors and allow unfettered comments on any story. But I don't think the answer is deciding which stories are fair game for comments and which aren't. Just admit that the whole damn thing hasn't done anything for newspapers from either a business or taste standpoint and stop it completely.

Sure, and those same loons are then encouraged to post defamatory accusations and outright lies about the coach and, often, the sports reporters who wrote the story.
I look forward to the first time a newspaper is sued because of anonymous reader comments. That part of the paper/web site should be held to the same standard of libel ... reckless disregard for the truth. A paper's disclaimer that it isn't responsible for reader comments is not a defense. Reporters/editors can't get away with printing defamatory, racist, sexist, inflammatory tripe. Why is acceptable for the rest of the product?

 

[Diabeetus]

I think the reason most comment sections go unedited deals with the legal aspect of it. In some sort of twisted logic, papers that edit comments and have something like the previous examples of the atrocities make it in are liable for those comments. Those that don't, aren't.

 

[gingerbread]

Who says? Has that theory been tested in court, or is just what publishers keep telling themselves?