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stephanie
02-20-2007, 02:53 AM
:dunno:

Ted Vaden, Staff Writer
A story last week on the latest Duke sex-crime case brought a flock of new complaints about an old issue. Why does The News & Observer not identify crime suspects by race?
A news story Monday said that a female Duke student had reported being raped at a student party off-campus. The suspect was described as "being in his late teens or early 20s, about 6-foot-1 and wearing a black do-rag, a gray sweatshirt and blue jeans."

Reader Jim Darges asked why we didn't include the suspect's race, which had been released by Durham Police: "It would further narrow the suspect pool if the race is given. If you're not giving a complete and accurate description, then why do it at all?"

This column addressed the race identification question two years ago, but the number of calls and e-mails last week suggests that it's time to do it again. I brought the topic up at an in-house workshop last week, and it was clear there was confusion and disagreement among our own staff.

The N&O's written policy on use of race descriptions is lengthy, but here's a relevant portion: "Our aim in publishing descriptions of suspects at large is to promote community awareness and public safety. A sketchy description (white man, 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-11, medium build) fits so many people that it doesn't suit that cause. In such cases, our report should state that police did not have a detailed description of the man or woman being sought. In the case of serious crimes where a racial identifier adds to a detailed description, we may opt to use that element."

The policy also says race should be identified "when a crime or court case involves race."

John Drescher, The N&O's managing editor, says the policy means the paper will identify race when there is enough additional detail to make a description useful -- eye color, length of hair, texture of hair, complexion, height, weight, age, etc.

But Drescher also makes the case that in an increasingly multi-ethnic community, race is less useful as a description. The Triangle is suffused with populations from other parts of the country, South and Central America, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and other places. How do you distinguish between black, brown, white, dark complexion, light complexion and other? He pointed to photographs of Barack Obama and North Carolina U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield. Not knowing their ethnicity, would a reader describe them as black or white?

"I don't think in this community the description of someone as black or white is as meaningful as it once was," Drescher said. He said the paper does seek to help identify suspects and regularly publishes photos or composite drawings provided by police.

Keith Woods, dean of the Poyner Institute, a development center for journalists in Florida, makes the case that race is ethnic, not descriptive. Ethnicity, he writes, does not tell you what a person looks like. "All Irish-Americans don't look alike. Why then, accept a description that says a suspect was African-American?"

Most newspapers have similar policies on race, but practice them differently. Last week, the Charlotte Observer, our sister newspaper, placed The N&O story about the reported rape at Duke on its Charlotte.com Web site with this description of the suspect: "a black male, in his late teens or early 20s, about 6-feet-1-inch tall and wearing a black do-rag, a gray sweat shirt and blue jeans."

Rick Thames, The Observer's editor, told me in an e-mail that his paper's policy is similar to The N&O's -- to use race only with a detailed description of the suspect. "This was a close call, in my opinion, but I can see how this added bit of information could help in this case," he wrote.
http://www.newsobserver.com/576/story/544311.html