Former Indiana teacher Brittany Fortinberry is facing additional child molestation charges after a sixth alleged victim came forward. She was originally accused of arranging group sex with boys as young as 13 years old while they allegedly wore masks from the movie 'Scream.'
This isn’t a matter of poor training. Actual journalists have to follow standards that come with legal repercussions. Printing that someone certifiably did something that is a matter of a criminal proceeding without a formal conviction is an easy way to end up in front of a judge for libel.
Take the sentence “Police accused John Doe of inciting a lynch mob to attack the alleged rapist“. The police aren’t alleging that the victim was a rapist, they’re saying the rape allegation was part of the context of their own accusation against John Doe.
If an act is described as an accusation, it’s implied that everything within the description is an allegation by the accusers. But if something within the description is itself labeled as “alleged”, that second allegation becomes part of scenario the accusers are constructing.
This isn’t a matter of poor training. Actual journalists have to follow standards that come with legal repercussions. Printing that someone certifiably did something that is a matter of a criminal proceeding without a formal conviction is an easy way to end up in front of a judge for libel.
Take the sentence “Police accused John Doe of inciting a lynch mob to attack the alleged rapist“. The police aren’t alleging that the victim was a rapist, they’re saying the rape allegation was part of the context of their own accusation against John Doe.
If an act is described as an accusation, it’s implied that everything within the description is an allegation by the accusers. But if something within the description is itself labeled as “alleged”, that second allegation becomes part of scenario the accusers are constructing.