Sociology-+April+30,+2010

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Please read the attached article and answer the following questions. You may cut and paste them into word, or use lined paper and a pen. Please use full sentences.

a. What is a decorum order, and how does it relate to privacy issues in criminal cases such as the rape case discussed in the article? b. What information about the alleged victim in the Kobe Bryant rape case has already been reported, according to the article? c. Why, according to the article, do newspapers feel that revealing details about the accusers in rape cases is still within their policies against naming the accusers themselves? d. How has the Internet impacted what is known about the accuser in the Kobe Bryant case? e. How, according to Susan Estrich, has the definition of anonymity changed “in a highly competitive news environment and the Internet era”? f. What did Todd Gitlin mean when he said that “we’re doing a sort of hypocritical cut and paste job”? g. To what “sides of the street” was Eben Moglen referring when discussing companies with Internet message boards dedicated to discussing these types of cases? h. Why did a group of newspapers and television networks argue against the judge’s decorum order last week? i. According to Mark Crispin Miller, how do the networks’ arguments not accurately portray First Amendment guarantees? j. Why do anonymity policies and rape shield laws exist in terms of protecting victims? k. On what do “media critics blame the growing expectation for the public television confessional”? l. What does Ms. Estrich feel will happen to Kobe Bryant’s accuser when she is called upon to tell her side of the story to the media?

Now, divide a paper or WORD document into three columns. In the first column, write four of the statements below. In the second column, write 'AGREE' or 'DISAGREE' based on your personal opinion. In the third column, support your opinion with at least one argument. Please you full sentences.

–Everyone has a right to his or her privacy, even public personalities. –Public personalities, by virtue of being in the public eye, should expect increased media scrutiny of their private lives. –If someone is involved in a scandal or crime that also involves a public personality, then he or she should expect that his or her privacy will also be jeopardized. –News agencies have the responsibility to report all that they know about alleged crimes, even if that means jeopardizing the privacy of the parties involved. –For news agencies to reveal details about an accuser does not have the same impact as providing the accuser’s name. –There is nothing that can be done about protecting an accuser’s anonymity in high-profile cases in the Internet age. –The Kobe Bryant rape case is merely celebrity gossip packaged as major news; if he were not a famous athlete, this news would probably be relatively unreported.