TMZ Identifies 14-Year-Old Alleged Sex Crime Victim [View All]

Source: Associated Press

TMZ identifies 14-year-old alleged sex crime victim
2008-04-30 21:00:35
By DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Breaking with standards widely followed by the mainstream news media, the celebrity Web site TMZ posted a story Wednesday about a 14-year-old who's a movie star's son and an alleged sex crime victim, and it ran the 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. The Associated Press' policy is not to identify people in such cases. "The reason the story is even interesting to TMZ is because of who the child is," McBride said. "I'm not sure that alone is enough to justify" identifying the boy.

Harvey Levin, managing editor of TMZ, refused to speak about the decision to run the story. "The story speaks for itself," he said through a spokeswoman.

Read more: http://myembarq.com/news/news_reader.php?storyid=16019409&feedid=241