Here’s how newspapers around the country told the story of the video TMZ Sports got of Ray Rice knocking out his then fiancée. (On Monday, I shared a quick list of 5 resources for journalists covering domestic violence.)
To me, this video and these front pages bring up a lot of questions, including if news organizations should be showing it over and over and freeze-framing moments of it for the front page? What impact does that have on the victim? A few newspapers just ran with images of Rice, but many included screen shots of Janay Rice getting punched or passed out on the floor. On Monday night, Meredith Clark of the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas tweeted in response to this piece from Poynter’s Roy Peter Clark. Meredith Clark said sharing the video isn’t journalism, a point Poynter has asked her to write more about.
Re-posting a video of a woman being assaulted isn't journalism. Seeking her story, or information that can put it in context, is.
— Dr. Meredith Clark (@meredithclark) September 9, 2014
I don’t have answers, but if you do, please email me at khare@poynter.org or tweet them to me. Front pages from Newseum.
From Express in Washington, D.C.:
From RedEye in Chicago, Illinois:
From TBT in St. Petersburg, Florida:
From The Baltimore Sun in Baltimore, Maryland:
From The Daily Times in Salisbury, Maryland:
From the Boston Herald in Boston, Massachusetts:
From the Burlington County Times in Willingboro, New Jersey:
From The Trentonian in Trenton, New Jersey:
From the Daily News in New York City:
From the New York Post in New York City:
From USA Today, in McLean, Virginia:
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