Social Sciences and Education Research Review (Aug 2015)
The journalists’ obligation of protecting the victims of sexual assault
Abstract
The most debated media story of 2015 in Romania was related to a case of sexual assualt. On the 19th of July 2015 seven teenagers were released from house arrest in the case where they were accused of collectively raping an 18-year-old high school student. The Romania media landscape was quickly overtaken by this story: we had in depth media reports about the alleged assailaints and their home town, scandal regarding a facebook group created by a parent of one of the former mentioned and even a TV appearance from the victim and her mother on live television. The present article will attempt an analysis of the responsabilities that journalists have in protecting victims of sexual assault, according to the European law, Romanian legislation and in the media code of ethics. The questions we are starting from are these: were the Romanian journalists really disgusted by the actions of the seven or was it just a race for larger readership and viewership? What did the journalists do wrong when reporting n this story? What could they and should they have done more in order to protect a victim of sexual assault? And why was this case so widely reported while other cases of rape are constantly ignored by the Romanian media and society?
