Patterns in Rape Coverage
The coverage of rape cases in The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer generally fits into Freedman’s argument about issues of race, age, gender, and credibility in rape coverage in American newspapers at the end of the nineteenth century.
Freedman explains that, during this time period, newspapers usually used various different terms like “outrage” or “criminal assault” to refer to rape instead of outrightly referring to the crime as rape because rape was a sensational crime and still seen as a relatively taboo topic. This is an area where the Intelligencer seems to differ, as 23 of the total stories from 1880 and 1900 are referred to either “rape” or “attempted rape.” There were 8 stories of “rape” and 5 stories of “attempted rape” from 1880 and 6 stories of “rape” and 4 stories of “attempted rape” from 1900. It was not until 1900 that the Intelligencer began to refer to rape as either “criminal assault” or “attempted criminal assault,” and even then, these stories of “criminal assault are still less than those of “rape,” with 5 stories mentioning “criminal assault” and 2 mentioning “attempted criminal assault.” So, the language surrounding rape in the time period that appeared in the Intelligencer is arguably less sensational than the language of the newspapers Freedman studied.
Another key issue that Freedman discusses is the age of rape victims and how this was reported in newspapers during this time period as an example of how newspapers presented victims of rape as innocent and people that required protection. The Intelligencer generally seems to agree with Freedman’s claims, as about a third of the total stories from 1880 and 1900 involved rape against children. Of the 13 stories from 1880, there were 5 stories involving rape against adults, 5 stories involving rape against children, and 3 stories in which the age of the victim was unspecified. Of the 17 stories from 1900, there were 5 stories involving rape against adults, 6 stories involving rape against children, and 6 stories in which the age of the victim was unspecified. With 10 stories in total involving rape against adults and 11 stories involving rape against children, the Intelligencer did tend to report both cases concerning children and adults, although it is important to note of course that all except one story involving a young boy were against women, so Freedman’s claim that the narrative of rape that newspapers encouraged did present rape victims as innocent and defenseless is apparent in the Intelligencer’s coverage.
The issue of credibility, which Freedman discusses, also appears in the selected stories of rape cases in the Intelligencer as the matter of the reputation as a indicator of credibility is mentioned in multiple stories across both 1880 and 1900. Of the total 13 stories from 1880, there were 3 stories that referred to either the victim or the offender as being a “prominent citizen” or holding a position of authority and 3 stories that referred to the bad reputation of either the victim or the offender. Of the total 17 stories from 1900, however, there were only 2 stories that referred to either the victim or the offender as being a “prominent citizen” or holding a position of authority and 2 stories that referred to the bad reputation of either the victim or the offender.