NY Times under fire over comments concerning child rape case

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The New York Times came under attack Wednesday from bloggers claiming that James C. McKinley Jr.'s disturbing March 8 article about the alleged gang-rape of an 11-year-old girl laid blame on the prepubescent victim.

The social justice website Change.org went so far as to start an online petition to "Tell the New York Times to issue a published apology for their coverage of this incident and publish an editorial from a victim's rights expert on how victim blaming in the media contributes to the prevalance of sexual assault."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutlin ... VzcmVzcG8-

I read the linked article. Change.org is apparently upset that neighbors of the girl were quoted as saying that she dressed "old for her age" and "hung around the older boys". They say this is the NYT blaming the girl.

1)Those are quotes from the neighbors, not a stance taken by the reporter.

2)If you read the article, it becomes clear that the neighbors are not blaming the girl either. They are actually blaming her mother for what they perceive as negligence in allowing an 11 year old girl to hang out with those boys.

While the neighbors may be blaming the mother for negligence, the NYT itself is clearly blaming the perpetrators by choosing to title the article "Vicious Assault...".

Nobody in the article or in the neighborhood blames the girl.

Damn rapists.