European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 25, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday april 25, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary Sydney h. Schanberg s dark Side she got a lot of traffic tickets for speeding i guess that Means she was Likely to have sex with strangers an unidentified woman who knew her at the time said that in High school she was popular and a had a Little wild Streak a which i suppose indicates that she would naturally grow up to be a Loose woman. Her Mother May have been going out with her second husband when he was still married a Well Winkle know what that tells us about the daughter. More clues to the daughters character she did no to get terrific grades in school she had a baby out of Wedlock she liked to visit expensive bars and nightclubs in Palm Beach Fla. That a it. The verdict is in. She was out looking for it and brought it on herself. This a a she is the 29-year-old woman who has accused William Kennedy Smith the 30-year-old Nephew of sen. Edward Kennedy of raping her on the grounds of the Kennedy compound in Palm Beach in the pre Dawn hours of saturday March 30. And the so called clues to her character All come from a profile of her that appeared in the new York times april 17 a a profile that appeared crafted to Lead any Reader to the suspicion maybe even conclusion that the woman who was charging rape Wasny to a pillar of the Community had a Check ered history and therefore quite possibly had led on Young Smith. I certainly done to profess to know the facts in the Case but Haven to we heard All this before yes we have thousands of times. In virtually every rape Case that gets As far As the lawyer stage the defendants lawyers and investigators move heaven and Earth trying to prove that the complainant is a slut who not Only consented to the sex but asked for it. That is Why so Many woman still done to come Forward to report rape a because already traumatized by the physical assault they feel they Cope with the vicious verbal assault that precedent says they Are certain to face in court. The times also did something else in its profile of the woman it published her name. Most newspapers have an official policy of not naming rape victims but sometimes it turns out to be a hypocritical position quickly abandoned As soon As some other Media organization prints the name. This is what the times did rationalizing its departure from policy on the grounds that a in Bce a nationwide broadcast took the matter of her privacy out of our its evening broadcast april 16, Abc news identified the woman seeming to justify this because a London tabloid had published the name and an american supermarket Sheet had soon done the same. So Here is this Noble policy held aloft by major news executives who violate it at the drop of the first mention in a a candid Sheet of the name that was supposed to have been shielded. And there was the times having prepared its Story some Days in Advance sitting there waiting for the Opportunity to run it. And when Abc news provided the excuse the times a literally within minutes a dropped the profile into the paper and so on the nex Carl t. Rowan morning it was on Kitchen tables ready to be devoured with the morning doughnut. Now of course most of the nations press will follow suit and print the woman a name and she will never have another moments peace again. My own position on the Issue is that intellectually the stigma attached to rape victims is heightened rather than eased by the tradition of shielding the victims identities. In keeping the names secret we make the victims seem darkened and tainted. But that a just intellectual theory. In the non theoretical world we inhabit the taint is very real and very substantial. And therefore we in the press do not have the right to inflict it on another person Only that person can decide to Brave the consequences of going Public. Until we live in a More perfect world one where the stigma of rape has vanished publishing her name is up to the woman not us. Period. The part i thought Taw driest in the times Story a apart from naming the woman a was the description of the relationship that produced her infant daughter. In 1989,�?� the Story said a she had a Brief affair with. The son of a once prosperous family Here that owned a lumber company. The company has since declared bankruptcy. He was the father of her child friends say. It is unclear Why the couple did not the Story hundreds of words earlier had already stated that she had had a baby a by a local Man she did not Mariy a so what was the purpose of All this extra information is she supposed to be a bad person because she did no to marry the father is the times suggesting that for Nice girls marriage is the Only proper option when Well known unmarried male entertainers and athletes arc slapped with paternity suits do we write sentences such As a it is unclear Why the couple did not marry no of course not. The stigma Falls entirely on the woman this Palm Beach Story is All about the worst Side of the news business the Side driven solely by pack Competition defended by phony rationalizations and do void of professional standards. Three cheers for the first amendment c l09 Angelos Timos Washngton Post nows service House is Over a amp a mess newspaper columnists and television pundits usually pretend that they see a solution for every problem including the new world disorder brought on by the persian Gulf War or the conflict in the soviet Union brought on by Mikhail s. Gorbachev a efforts to rein in his own reforms. But i confess that there is one a a crisis that renders me intellectually impotent a debacle in which i know that my pockets Are being picked but in a never sure How or by whom. I refer to the savings and loan mess which is arguably the greatest economic scandal in human history. In be been following this pileup of financial tragedies for months but i did no to begin to understand the magnitude of the mess until i read Stephen Labaton a article in a sunday new York times. Its Ruck me like a Thunderbolt that some shadowy government Agency called the Resolution Trust corporation now a Man Ages some $300 billion of property that the government has seized while trying to bail out trembled a amp is. Our government has taken Over thousands of houses on which taxes and Upkeep Are so costly that the restitution Trust can hardly give them away. I can get you a ski resort in Utah or a Harbor Marina in Texas at a 50 percent discount but you a know that even at the government Price it would be a bad Deal something the out of business Thrift institutions never figured out. It seems certain that president Bush is going to ask you and me to follow up on a recent $77 billion bailout allocation with a september Call for another $150 billion to keep trying to buy the nations Way out of this incredible fiasco. The pity is that i done to recall the president Ever giving a speech in which he revealed fully to you and me the dimensions of this debacle or his Battle plan for fighting our Way out of this economic quagmire. The White House is spending time and brainpower trying to help chief of staff John h. Sununu get l. William Seidman out of the Job As chairman of the Resolution Trust corporation. Out of what must be foolish Pride Seidman is spending your and my Money to pay lawyers to Tell him that nobody can deprive him of this charming Job before 1993. However Long Seidman sits atop this Gigantic a amp a sinkhole you ought to be aware of this dichotomous situation 1. Early on the Resolution Trust disposed of properties in a Panicky Way that gave colossal Bonanza to some of the very people who brought on this crisis. 2. Criticized for the fat giveaways the Resolution Trust became cautious bringing on criticisms that Uncle Sam would be bled to death unless the $300 billion inventory was disposed of a fast. But even in a buyers Market few people Are willing to Purchase any of the trusts $21 billion in delinquent mortgages and troublesome Loans. I have this sickly feeling that president Bush does no to want to talk about How Uncle Sam wound up holding the bag for $300 billion in shopping malls office buildings horse farms yachts family Homes junk Bonds and heaven knows what else. I fear that the president does no to want to admit that he is just As stumped by this outage As any columnist in the land. C North America Syndicate the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government. A
