Compassion is a word no journalist takes lightly. The journalistic Code of Ethics often makes it seem like compassion cannot exist. We are supposed to be machine-like and only report the facts.
What we see, hear, touch, taste, smell.
What isn’t supposed to be included is what we feel. But in certain scenarios it can’t be separated.
Written with compassion in mind, allegations of rape carry the heaviest weight in newsrooms. The cases can be very difficult to decipher. At times, those who are accused are done so wrongly, like in the case against the Duke lacrosse players. Other times, it’s so unclear as to what transpired – even after gather all of the available facts – a journalist can only wait on the outcome of a trial.
Outside of the newsroom, it is no different.
At times, it can be so obvious who did what. Other times people are left asking questions. Even though the word “rape” may get tossed around in casual conversation in different ways, attitudes aren’t casual when actual allegations arise. Regardless of what transpires in court, most people understand the consequences of the allegations – to both parties. Because the court of public opinion can be brutal.
Even if the allegations are false and charges are dropped.
That is why compassion, today, should be given to the Florida International baseball player Garrett Wittels.
Wittels was accused of raping a teenage girl while on vacation. He was charged with raping the 17-year-old girl on Dec. 20 while visiting the archipelago east of Florida.
Those charges will be formally dismissed after a handful of evidence pointed toward Wittels’ innocence.
One of the bigger piece of evidence involved the father of one of the accusers. The father, who chaperoned the girls during their time at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island, was once accused of planning to hire a woman to falsely claim she was raped at a professional sporting event, according to the Miami Herald.
Wittels’ lawyer, Richard Sharpstein, informed The Associated Press late Wednesday that prosecutors are dropping the charges. Wittels and his two friends, Robert Rothschild and Jonathan Oberti will be cleared.
All three will appear at a hearing Monday, when the charges will be formally dismissed.
But the damage has already been done. Two fold.
Wittels, who recently finished his junior season, was not chosen in the MLB Draft, and Sharpstein told the AP, “the dramatic effect this has had on his career can never be compensated.”
But, nor will the effect on actual rape victims ever be compensated.
And, quite frankly, that is far more important.
Today, when a story surfaces involving an athlete and rape – people hesitate. Not strictly from this case, but multiple cases. And that is a disservice to all of the women – and men – in the world currently suffering from one of the worst kinds of trauma.
Wittels will continue to play baseball. He will continue to live his life. He doesn’t have nightmares or flashbacks. He won’t need therapy. He won’t need to learn to trust again.
But often the actual rape victims suffer through multiple layers of the symptoms above. And when people falsely accuse others of that kind of crime only contributes to the public aloofness.
Something I don’t care to see.
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