Shoulda newspaper print the names of adults who are arrested in itscommunity? It’s legal, but is it ethical? That’s a question we askourselves every time someone calls or writes us, upset that his nameappeared in a crime story in The Daily Aztec.
We’ve always printed people’s names, but decided it was time tocreate formal guidelines, to get advice from professionals and topoll our readers. We spoke to three experienced journalists at theSan Diego Union-Tribune and two journalism professors here at SDSU,and we heard the same thing each time: A newspaper has the legalright to publish the names of arrested individuals. And, as long aswe do it accurately, we are doing our job.
Another piece of advice they gave: in the case of sensitivecrimes, it’s good practice to follow up with the District Attorney tofind out if the person was charged with the crime. In some cases, weshould follow a story all the way to trial, they said. If a person isexonerated, it’s our job to say so.
What about the embarrassment people may suffer because we writeabout them? We know that the people we write about have feelings andfriends and reputations. But our first duty is to our readers andtheir right to know. The question of printing people’s names is anethical one — balancing the right of the community to know and theright of the arrested person to his or her privacy.
We feel that names are a newsworthy part of crime stories.Therefore, The Aztec will continue to print the names of adults whoare arrested. In cases of felonies, or crimes of a violent or sexualnature, we will follow up with the DA, and if no charges are filed,write a follow up reporting this information.
Additionally, we will remind our readers at the beginning of everycrime story that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Justbecause a University Police arrest report says ‘Joe Aztec’ wasarrested for grand-theft auto doesn’t mean he did it, it just meanshe was arrested on suspicion of doing it.
When we print a person’s name, we need to identify them ascompletely as we can, so we do not harm the reputation of someoneelse of the same name. For this reason, we also print ages and theblock and street on which the person lives. We do not print exactaddresses.
— The Daily Aztec does not base its Staff Editorials on theresults of the online opinion polls.
