The Feld-Blog

"I don't know" have become the three most unaccepted words in politics and the media. "Who cares if you have the facts right? Who even cares if you have all the facts? Just take a stand. Any stand." Could anything be more irresponsible or dangerous? In the beginning, the Media largely assumed that the Duke Lacrosse team was guilty of the alleged assault and rape and passed these views on to their audiences. They held interviews attesting to the horrific condition or race relations on the Duke campus, only further stirring unnecessary controversy and sending Americans everywhere into a near blind panic.

But less than a week later, DNA evidence doesn’t match any of the players on the team, and the Defense claims to have time-stamped pictures of the Dancer arriving at the party already bruised and battered. The Media immediate jumps on this and the boys are painted as entirely innocent. This after the students' lacrosse season was already canceled and the coach fired.

Come on people. There is no middle ground? Can't we just present information impartially without taking such a biased stance that the media already convicts someone before charges are even filed?

By assuming the players' initial guilt, we and the media have ruined their careers. Anyone who puts the words "Duke Lacrosse Team" on their resume now evokes a sense of dread and prejudice rather than the respect and admiration that used to be associated with those words. The media and people around the country have sat down in conversation with their friends about "how terrible what these kids did" was, or afterwards questioned whether or not charges would even be brought without DNA evidence. By associating this alleged crime with the team and not individuals, we have even condemned previous and future generations of Duke lacrosse players to the possibly unfounded prejudices the current team feels now. Even for players who were on the team in years past and not now, or students who will come to play in future years will bear the weight of this stigma on the whole team. People don't forget this kind of thing, and once the media assumes guilt, the nation does as well.

On the other side of the coin, the ridiculous swing from pitying the possibly victimized exotic dancer to suspecting her of drumming up the whole story marks a similar tendency for the media to avoid any kind of subtlety. Even if DNA evidence does not corroborate the allegations of rape by certain individuals, we cannot rule it out as a possibility. Even if there was no rape, it doesn't mean she wasn't attacked. Rape and assault are both horrific crimes. What it comes down to is that WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HAPPENED.

The Media doesn't have all the evidence - prosecution and defense teams never release all the evidence pre-trial for fear of 'showing their hand.' In all likelihood the prosecution and defense lawyers don't even have all the evidence yet. So here is my suggestion: Perhaps we shouldn't jump to conclusions. Perhaps we shouldn't ruin 46 boys lives without giving them the benefit of a trial. Perhaps we shouldn't assume or stereotype the motivations of a possibly victimized exotic dancer. Perhaps (novel concept) we should actually let the judicial system do what it's supposed to do.

In today’s world, you are guaranteed due process of law within the judicial system, but it seems equally possible to be convicted by a jury of the media long before your case even goes to trial. When did that happen?