[Peace-discuss] Re: [Imc-web] Thompson's accuser

[Mike Lehman]

While this issue is of concern to me and is one where there is probably 
not a presumptively 100% right answer in every situation, although a 
policy that presumes such might be wise, I think a point of 
clarification is needed. There has _not_ been any decision by the IMC to 
publish anyone's name in this case. An IMC member chose to disclose this 
while reporting on this story, but like all IMC posts, decisions about 
the content of articles and comments are solely those of the poster.

I think what may be at issue is that there is no IMC policy on editing 
website posts that identify people in this way under these 
circumstances. A consensus that we do so is something to address this in 
our web editing policy is something I would probably support, but this 
would be an ex post facto action. After deciding on this as an UC IMC  
policy, it would still be possible for a poster to post such 
information, due to our open publishing policy. However, once identified 
as such, we could then edit out such information.

I think it is very important to clarify these points of this issue, 
because otherwise people will think this was an IMC decision in the 
first place -- it was not -- and would then have unreasonable 
expectations about what is possible with web editing within Indymedia 
principles or the operations of any news site on the internet that 
allows open publishing.

If there are no objections, I also support editing out this information. 
However, I think the most expeditious way to deal with this would be for 
the author(s) to agree to editing this info out. Obviously, if they 
don't agree to that, it's going to be difficult to arrive at a consensus 
on this.
Mike Lehman

Wendy Edwards wrote:
> Many of us have been greatly concerned about the Patrick Thompson trial.
> There have been valid questions about the accusations, and it's quite
> possible that Patrick was convicted unfairly.  There have also been
> legitimate questions raised about the motives and credibility of the
> accuser.
>
> However, a number of people are also concerned about the IMC's decision
> to publicize the name of the alleged victim.  They've made some valid
> points.  Even if Thompson's accuser was lying, this kind of action could
> still have a chilling effect on other sexual assault victims.  Reporting
> the attack and pressing charges would be extremely difficult; perhaps
> the idea of their name on a high traffic website could make it
> unthinkable.
>
> This also has the potential to alienate many members of the
> Champaign-Urbana community.  From the perspective of Thompson's
> supporters, the alleged victim is a serial accuser who may be sending an
> innocent man to prison.  From the public's perspective, IMC members are
> bullying a rape victim.
>
> If nobody objects, I would like to edit the entries on the website so
> that the accuser's name is removed.  I'd also respectfully suggest that
> the IMC avoid publishing personal information about the accuser, because
> it's likely to backfire.
>
> Thanks,
> Wendy Edwards
> _______________________________________________
> Imc-web mailing list
> Imc-web at lists.ucimc.org
> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/imc-web
>
>