The Register Citizen
The Register Citizen took a smart approach when reporting on the Torrington, Conn., rape and cyberbullying case this past weekend; it published a Q&A that asks questions such as: "What happened?", "How does Torrington compare to Steubenville?" "Why did the Register Citizen identify underage bullies?" and "What don't we know?"

Rape and bullying stories are complicated, so taking the time to ask and answer questions about them is important. So is explaining editorial decisions -- especially if they're decisions that people have criticized or questioned. Last week, the Register Citizen responded to criticism by explaining its decision to publish student tweets about the Torrington case.

Matt DeRienzo, Connecticut Group Editor of the Journal Register Company, explained via email why the Register Citizen published the Q&A.

"We did it because it is a complex story that is easy to develop misunderstandings about if you don’t see the whole picture. And the story got a lot more complex and easier to misunderstand when it exploded across national media," DeRienzo said, noting that the paper will continue to update the Q&A as news develops. "We are linking to the FAQ from all of the (many) stories and editorials we are writing about this case, so that readers can quickly get an overview of everything we know about the case so far."  (more...)

Journalists took to Twitter Sunday to criticize the media’s coverage of the two teenage boys who were found guilty in the Steubenville, Ohio, rape case.

Lauren Wolfe, Xeni Jardin and others called out CNN’s Poppy Harlow and Paul Callan for sympathizing with the men and highlighting that the woman who was raped was “allegedly drunk.” On Monday, Fox News, CNN and MSNBC aired the woman's name. Think Progress called the move "an act of serious journalistic negligence."

“What I’m so furious about, after the act perpetrated on this young woman, is our media’s take. Mainstream media, of course, reflects society -- so in this case, they reflect rape culture. But shouldn’t we expect more from the media? Aren’t there such things as news judgment and context and analysis?” said Wolfe, director of the Women's Media Center's Women Under Siege project.

“Why is nearly no outlet ... bothering to ask what’s wrong with masculinity in this country, with the arrogance of those defending a football team rather than a young woman who was violated? How could the media possibly be putting the emphasis on [the fact that] the girl drank? Did the boys not drink?” (more...)

In his South by Southwest talk Sunday, David Carr discussed paywalls and their effect on news organizations and news consumers. Here are some of the best tweets from his session. (more...)