Not a damned thing. Yet news mediums routinely print or broadcast that young suspects are or were students at such-and-such schools.
The alleged crimes took place miles away from those schools, were not part of school activities and did not occur during school hours.
Rather than just list the suspect's name, age, home address and other basic information, the news mediums list school affiliations to supposedly round out the suspect's community identification.
Innocent schools and their communities thus become co-conspirators in the minds of readers, viewers and listeners.
News mediums compound their hypocrisy by not mentioning the innocent employers of adult suspects because of potential lawsuits. XYZ Corp., a private entity, could claim defamation because it had no role in the off-duty actions of its employee.
The truth is that schools are defenseless against such media procedures because they are public institutions and can't retaliate legally. Shame. (13 FEBRUARY 2000).
