Moue Magazine

It was brought to my attention earlier in the evening that TMZ had posted a post-assault picture of Rhianna that was taken (presumably by the police) shortly after she was assaulted by her boyfriend, Chris Brown. I thought it was disgusting but expect nothing less of TMZ. 

But then I logged onto Twitter and saw a tweet from the Chicago Sun Times that said “DEVELOPING: A grisly photo of Rhianna has surfaced (link) soon after her Grammy night assault”. I responded (limited to 140 characters): “Suntimes: That pic was not released by the victim. Truly disgusting that media outlets are showing it. Violation of her rights and decency.” I meant of human decency, not Rhianna’s, but ran out of character space.  While I will not link to either source of the picture, I will say that the Sun Times link lead to their blog Sports Pros(e). 

Should the Sun Times remove the content? Yes. Should people protest if they don’t? Yes. As I said on Twitter, these photos were not released by Rhianna nor any of the police officers on the case that are law abiding. Yes, I understand that the picture will bring a great deal of traffic to the sites that post it. But this is not a magazine photo shoot or a candid of a celebrity out shopping for shoes. It is a woman who had just been through something incredibly upsetting and traumatic and who is still- in whatever way she is finding appropriate for her- dealing with it. She does not deserve this violation. 

I understand the yearning for celebrity gossip in general. I’m as guilty as many others of reading the occasional glossy magazine or pop culture blog. But there has to be a line in the sand where human decency and responsibility kicks in. I’m only 27 but I can remember a time when the celebrity magazines included very few (if any) of the paparazzi shots like we see today. The “candid” photos we saw of celebrities were usually on the red carpet or at some event, where they had implied consent to being photographed. And we got our gossip fix from that, movies still made money, stars will still born and the earth still spun.

But it has devolved to the point that photographers lining the sidewalk to snap pictures of Heath Ledger’s body being removed from his apartment isn’t widely condemned. A television station aired footage that clearly showed the slightly bloodied face of a model who had fallen to her death from her building. The Rhianna photos are an equally disturbing part of this downward slope. 

If you go to seek out the photo at the sites I mentioned above, ask yourself why you have to see it. I have seen it but only by accident. I naively assumed that the Sun Times would not be linking to the actual picture and thought I was being taken to an article about it. But now you know that it is there. If you go, what is your motivation? If you’re a fan of Rhianna’s music, why would you want to help promote the violation of her privacy and exploitation of a dark event in her life? Are you just morbidly curious? It is the bruised face of a young girl. It will not satisfy any part of your being or feed your fix for titillation. 

This is not a piece of entertainment. Please do not treat it as one.

Update: I had to delete the updates and start over because it was getting hard to read. Basically, I have been in contact with someone from the Sun Times. They had an in house discussion about whether to run the photo. It was decided to only run it in the online edition. They have since added a full article to go with the picture and my source says they are preparing an article on domestic violence as a followup. 

As for the picture, my source says that in Illinois crime photos like the one used are public record (though he admits not knowing if that is the case in California, where the pictures were from).  I’m trying to find evidence of this (it would actually make me more uncomfortable to know that the photo is public record).

The Sun Times is at least trying, for which I give them points. But- legal or not- I’m still uncomfortable with the use of the photo without her consent and worry that its appearance on the front page of sites like Sun Times and Black Voices could be triggering for those who have experienced assault.

Update 2: Here is where you can find the contact information for the sites that are using the picture. 

Chicago Sun Times: You can leave a comment on the piece here (WARNING: picture is there and huge) or you can email Craig Newman at cnewman@suntimes.com . He is the one I have been talking to through Twitter and he gave me his email to pass along. 

Black Voices Blog: You can leave a comment on the piece here (again: picture is there) or go to this side page (pic not there) and click on the Contact Us button under Resources on the left sidebar.

Update 3: I heard on CNN a few minutes ago that there is a police investigation being launched into the release of the photos. That would seem to imply it was not public record. They don’t seem to have a link on their website to any information.

Update 4: Found the story on CNN. I’ve heard that they refused to air the photo (unlike the Today Show) and they should be applauded. From that story (emphasis mine): 

“The unauthorized release of a domestic violence photograph immediately generated an internal investigation,” an L.A. police spokesman said in a statement. “The Los Angeles Police Department takes seriously its duty to maintain the confidentiality of victims of domestic violence. A violation of this type is considered serious misconduct, with penalties up to and including termination.”

A spokeswoman for Rihanna declined to comment.

The chief investigator in the case had told CNN earlier that authorities had tried to guard against leaks. Detective Deshon Andrews said he had kept the case file closely guarded and that no copies had been made of the original photos and documents.

Yes, I sent the link to the CNN piece to the Sun Times. 

If you’d like to read more blog posts on this subject, Ginmar and Melissa have posts. I’d like to thank Melissa for posting about it and including a link to this piece. I tried to thank her at Shakesville but their comments system doesn’t like me.