ESPN.com is currently under fire for revealing the name of the woman accusing New York Mets' pitcher Johan Santana of rape. The woman has a civil lawsuit against Santana in a Florida court and she has been using the name Jane Doe on all court documents. Monday, the judge ordered the woman to submit her real name. Following this, an article covering the court proceedings from ESPN.com revealed the woman's name.
Now the woman's attorney is firing back by telling TMZ that "ESPN has now set a dangerous precedent in telling rape victims that this will be their punishment if they attempt to pursue accountability for their celebrity offenders." The attorney also accused ESPN of "irresponsible journalism". What do you think?
ESPN has the right to publish her name, but it's a question of ethics. In my opinion, ESPN was being irresponsible. If the article is not removed within the next couple of days I will be shocked. ESPN is owned by Disney and they will not want a reputation of being unsympathetic to victims of rape.
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3 comments:
I agree ESPN had a right to use the name. I agree Disney might want to rethink the posting of the name, for its reputation's sake. However, only the woman says she was a victim of rape (at least from what I gather by the blog post). When law enforcement says there has been such a crime, then the name must be withhed. In this case, because it is a civil case, I think there are no restrictions, legally, on the release of the name.
Still, it's somewhat surprising that the judge made the ruling he did.
Why would the woman's attourney go to TMZ? That's really weird to me. TMZ is not a reputable source. I don't think that would help a client.
I agree, Megan. TMZ is not the best place to go with it's very sensational journalism! I'm not sure whether ESPN should have revealed the name of this woman, especially with it being such a sensitive case as it is!
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