NY Times responds to backlash over reporting of an alleged child rape

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."

No such apology or editorial has yet appeared, but the Times did publish a letter to the editor about the article in Thursday's paper; and blasted out a link to the missive on the paper's official Twitter account late Wednesday night.

"Not surprisingly, I found the March 9 news article about the gang rape of a young girl, 'Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town,' disturbing," writes Jinnie Spiegler, of Brooklyn, New York.

"Almost as disturbing," she continues, "were the characterizations of the victim and her mother. While the 18 boys and men charged with the attack were described in innocuous terms except that a few had criminal records, I was shocked to see the article report that town residents said the 11-year-old girl 'dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s.' The article continued, 'She would hang out with teenage boys at a playground, some said.' "

Spiegler asks: "How is this relevant except to subtly blame the victim?"

The Times responded Wednesday evening to The Cutline: "Neighbors' comments about the girl, which we reported in the story, seemed to reflect concern about what they saw as a lack of supervision that may have left her at risk," said Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for the paper. "As for residents' references to the accused having to 'live with this for the rest of their lives,' those are views we found in our reporting. They are not our reporter's reactions, but the reactions of disbelief by townspeople over the news of a mass assault on a defenseless 11-year-old."

Rhodes Ha also stressed that the paper stands by the controversial piece.

"We are very aware of and sensitive to the concerns that arise in reporting about sexual assault," Rhoades Ha said. "This story is still developing and there is much to be learned about how something so horrific could have occurred."

(Mark Lennihan/AP)