A friend recently raised questions about the issue of media responsibility in the wake of reports about something horrible that involved members of his family.
Some of you may remember Herb "Sarge" Phelps, former host of the Unreported News Radio Show on 1480 KPHX in Phoenix. He also called into Randi Rhodes and Mike Malloy about reports of the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast. He also sometimes posts here as SargeUNN.
Here is the basic story of what happened from the Mississippi Press.
Full Report: Neighbors arrested in Gautier tied-up woman case.
Since then, Sarge has said that local media has identified his sister by name, showed her house on local television, but have not reported that the main suspect in the case is out on bond.
Here is Sarge's comments on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jzgxirF2OI">
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jzgxirF2OIWhen I heard about this I asked myself, what is the responsibility of the media in reporting crimes. When should victims be identified? Is it proper to film outside of a crime scene when it is someone's home? Also, was there a double standard in identifying the victim in some accounts but not stating that the main suspect was out on bond? What do you think?