As expected, the Internet lit up after the judge announced the guilty verdict in the Steubenville rape trial. As expected, some reactions were just awful. Unexpectedly, one of them came from CNN. 
 
 Candy Crowley probably didn't mean to steal the spotlight on Sunday afternoon, when she reported on the breaking news from the Steubenville courtroom where Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond had just been found guilty. After the verdict came in, the CNN anchor turned to correspondent Poppy Harlow, who expressed some strange mixture of emotions. "Incredibly difficult, even for an outsider like me, to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believed their lives fell apart," said Harlow. Crowley turned to legal expert Paul Callan, who sounded almost apologetic when explaining how the rape conviction will mean that the Steubenville rapists will now be registered sex offenders and how that "will haunt them for the rest of their lives." None of these things said were untrue. But the tone was certainly a little off. 
 
 The segment, in general, didn't do CNN any favors. While they're not necessarily rooting for the rapists, even the slightest bit of sympathy didn't go over well, especially once it was lumped together with all of the outrageously offensive reactions of true Steubenville rapist sympathizers. Sarcastic example tweet: "The Steubenville story is all too familiar. Be responsible for your actions ladies before your drunken decisions ruin innocent lives." Sincere example tweet: "So you got drunk at a party and two people take advantage of you,that's not rape you're just a loose drunk slut." Of course, cases like the Steubenville rape trial can be polarizing, and we've long known how distorted some notions of justice can be. 
 
 The blogosphere went to town on CNN. Gawker's Mallory Ortberg really didn't appreciate Crowley and company waxing sympathetic about the damage done to the rapists' "promising futures." She wrote, "Their dreams and hopes were not crushed by an impersonal, inexorable legal system; Mays and Richardson raped a girl and have been sentenced accordingly." Ortberg added, "Reporting like this presents viewers with anonymous female victims and dynamic, sympathetic, complicated male figures." That's a strong point, especially since we didn't really hear from the victim until nearly the end of the trial. 
 
 That said, the media's actually been grieving the ends of these rapists' young lives for a few days now. It's just a little more infuriating now that they're officially guilty. Just before the trial started, for instance, Good Morning America published a sprawling preview under the headline, "The Steubenville Rape Case: What You Haven't Heard." What follows is a retelling of the whole saga with plenty of attention paid to the "honors student" Mays and wrong-side-of-the-tracks Richmond. The piece ends on a sympathetic note, almost bemoaning the fact that the two teens "face incarceration in a detention center until their 21st birthdays and the almost-certain demise of their dreams of playing football." Feeling sorry for the boys was a little bit more acceptable before they were convicted, but still, it hardly feels like objective reporting. 
 
 If all this upsets you, don't use up all your rage now. The Steubenville case is hardly over. Next, the state of Ohio will convene a grand jury to investigate further charges, and the media circus will get an encore, if not an entirely new act. All any decent person can do is hope for a little bit more balance. "As I said already, any rape is a tragedy," Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine said after the verdict on Sunday. "But, it is even more of a tragedy when that victim is continually re-victimized in the social media." Let's hope the mainstream media doesn't do the same. 
 
 Update, Monday: Even as questions grow about the grand jury hearing, one thing is clear: CNN is not alone — MSNBC and Fox let the victim's name get on air, too. 
 
 Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire. 
 
 Adam Clark Estes ||||| CNN's coverage of the verdict in the Steubenville rape case appeared to be curiously weighted on Sunday, focusing on the effect the guilty verdict would have on the lives of the now-convicted rapists and their families, rather than that of the victim and her family. 
 
 Steubenville High School football players Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'lik Richmond, 16, were accused of raping a severely intoxicated 16-year-old West Virginia girl who also attends the Ohio school. Thousands of text messages introduced in the case presented a picture of teens swapping graphic stories about the assault. 
 
 In a Sunday afternoon segment, anchor Fredricka Whitfield followed the straight news of the guilty verdict (which she described as rape occurring "after a night of heavy partying") by showing the rapists' parents' weeping in court. Footage of Richmond, his mother and father offering emotional appeals to the victim's family dominated the segment. 
 
 Whitfield threw the story to reporter Poppy Harlow, but not before reiterating that Mays and Richmond's "family members tried their hardest to plead for some forgiveness from the victim's family, as well as from the judge." 
 
 To her credit, Harlow appeared to try and correct the segment's tone: "That's true Fredricka," she said of the tears of the convicted rapist's families, "but this is an incredibly serious crime, it's the crime of rape." 
 
 And yet, the effects of the rape on the victim seemed to be an afterthought: "It was incredibly emotional, it was difficult for anyone in there to watch those boys break down," Harlow said. "[It was] also difficult, of course, for the victim's family." 
 
 "Also difficult, of course?" Over the course of the segment, CNN twice aired Richmond's father's appeal for forgiveness in full and also included footage from an interview in which Harlow asks Richmond if it's true that he told Ma'like he loved him for the first time after the verdict came down. The father emotionally explained that he blames himself for the incident because he wasn't "around" enough. "I want to stress that parents need to get involved more in their kids' lives," Nathaniel Richmond said. 
 
 CNN did air the entirety of the victim's mother's statement on the verdict, but that came after the tears of the Richmond, his mother and father. 
 
 The Sunday afternoon segment was hardly the first time CNN had fumbled its coverage of the case. Earlier on Sunday, anchor Candy Crowley expressed her deepest sympathies for Mays and Richmond. 
 
 Harlow set up the scene, which she said was "incredibly difficult" to watch, thusly: "These two young men -- who had such promising futures, star football players, very good students -- literally watched as they believed their life fell apart." 
 
 "What's the lasting effect though on two young men being found guilty juvenile court of rape essentially?" Crowley asked CNN's legal analyst Paul Callan. 
 
 The slant of the day's coverage was revealing in two capacities. First, CNN appears to have bet on the emotions of those it could show on camera -- for obvious reasons, the victim's identity has been protected, and the victim's family was not shown weeping in court. Networks know that people crying make for great TV. Secondly, it's telling that this tone continued over multiple segments, despite a cadre of tweets and blog posts deriding the network's earlier coverage. 
 
 Later on Sunday, Whitfield wrapped the first segment of her coverage on the case by describing it as "a heart-breaking case to watch, no matter how you look at it." That CNN can find so many ways to look at a rape trial is perhaps to blame for their embarrassing and damaging coverage. 
 
 Correction: This post incorrectly attributed the quote describing the courtroom scene as "incredibly difficult" to Candy Crowley and has since been corrected to note that the quote comes from Poppy Harlow. 
 
 WATCH: 
 
 
 
 Others noticing CNN's faulty coverage: 
 
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 Flavia Dzodan CNN a month ago: OMG SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE FOR THOSE POOR INDIAN WOMEN! CNN today:poor defendants #Steubenville! what abt their future! 
 
 Sharon So far @cnn has made no comments on Candy @crowleyCNN s thoughts on the #Steubenville rapists? Didn't fire her yet? Good w/rape? 
 
 Flavia Dzodan CNN seems to want us to believe that rape culture is "other people's problems" and not pervasive and toxic in the West as well 
 
 Matt Bors CNN's reaction to the Steubenville rape verdict is shameful http://t.co/V6lHy0kmff 
 
 Danice Andrus RT @Anniefromkansas: HOW ABOUT RAPE VICTIM???CNN grieves that guilty verdict ruined ‘promising’ lives of Steubenville rapists | http://t.co/p4NOWXwIN2 
 
 Rhonda Hansome Not the #rape but guilty verdict ruined ‘promising’ lives of #SteubenvilleRapists? #RealMenDoNotRape http://t.co/uA8p1aWMq6 
 
 Txue Yang RT @HalloweenBlogs: .@jmcaninch68 They were doing the same sympathetic nonsense on #AlexWitt on @msnbc - RAPE is RAPE @cnn #CNNFail #MSNBCFail #EpicFail 
 
 Muffin's Mom CNN promoting rape culture! #SCUM CNN grieves that guilty verdict ruined ‘promising’ lives of Steubenville rapists | http://t.co/koAGibcz7t 
 
 LondonFringe RT @tonyajonemiller: Hey @CNN, glad you care so much about the rapists. What about what happens to the rape VICTIM? http://t.co/iq6jC5xqiT (via @MattBors) 
 
 maggie RT @usedtobgop: @jungmuse HEY @cnn men who rape AREN'T pillars of society! WAKE THE HELL UP! NO wonder your ratings stink! http://t.co/Cr8x5P7EEy … 
 
 Warren 2016 RT @Angie_Coiro: I've always respected @crowleyCNN so much, and hope she will address this publicly: http://t.co/JQcIAOyNB5 … It's just so wrong. 
 
 Rodd RT @ScottySSWB: Dear @CNN when reporting a story about rape you probably shouldnt try to make us feel bad for the rapists lives being ruined, #Steubenville 
 
 Scott Dear @CNN when reporting a story about rape you probably shouldnt try to make us feel bad for the rapists lives being ruined, #Steubenville 
 
 The Notorious B.F.G. @CNN Please rethink your approach on Steubenville. The football players are not the victims so don't portray them as such. 
 
 Luis Heras CNN grieves that guilty verdict ruined ‘promising’ lives of Steubenville rapists | The Raw Story http://t.co/uThdDSC6lM 
 
 Follow Kia Makarechi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Kia_Mak ||||| [There was a video here] 
 
 One way to report on the outcome of a rape trial is to discuss the legal ramifications of the decision or the effect the proceedings may have on the life of the victim. Another angle reporters can take is to publicly worry about the "promising future" of the convicted rapists, now less promising as a direct result of their choice to rape someone. 
 
 Reporters at CNN today chose the latter technique. General correspondent Poppy Harlow, speaking to anchor Candy Crowley, had this to say about the verdict: 
 
 "Incredibly difficult, even for an outsider like me, to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believed their lives fell apart...when that sentence came down, [Ma'lik] collapsed in the arms of his attorney...He said to him, 'My life is over. No one is going to want me now.' Very serious crime here, both found guilty of raping the sixteen-year-old girl at a series of parties back in August." 
 
 CNN also played footage of both convicted rapists tearfully apologizing in court. Harlow went on to describe in detail an emotional exchange between Ma'lik Richmond, one of the defendants, and his estranged father. 
 
 Candy asked Paul Callan, a legal expert, to elaborate on the future of the two young men, stressing their youth and emotional vulnerability. 
 
 "Sixteen-year-olds just sobbing in court, regardless of what big football players they are, they still sound like sixteen-year-olds...what's the lasting effect, though, on two young men being found guilty in juvenile court of rape, essentially?" "The most severe thing with these young men is being labeled as registered sex offenders. That label is now placed on them by Ohio law...That will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Employers, when looking up their background, will see that they're registered sex offenders. When they move into a new neighborhood and somebody goes on the Internet, where these things are posted, neighbors will know that they are registered sex offenders." 
 
 Yes, that is how the sex offender registry works. People who commit acts of sexual violence (rape, for example) and are convicted in a court of law are required to register with the national sex offender public registry, so that future employers and neighbors might do things like check said registry. 
 
 For readers interested in learning more about how not to be labeled as registered sex offenders, a good first step is not to rape unconscious women, no matter how good your grades are. Regardless of the strength of your GPA (weighted or unweighted), if you commit rape, there is a possibility you may someday be convicted of a sex crime. This is because of your decision to commit a sex crime instead of going for a walk, or reading a book by Cormac McCarthy. Your ability to perform calculus or play football is generally not taken into consideration in a court of law. Should you prefer to be known as "Good student and excellent football player Trent Mays" rather than "Convicted sex offender Trent Mays," try stressing the studying and tackling and giving the sex crimes a miss altogether. 
 
 It's perfectly understandable, when reporting on a rape trial, to discuss the length and severity of the sentence; it is less understandable to discuss the end of two convicted rapists' future athletic and academic careers as if it were somehow divorced from the laws of cause and effect. Their dreams and hopes were not crushed by an impersonal, inexorable legal system; Mays and Richmond raped a girl and have been sentenced accordingly. Had they not raped her, they would not be spending at least one year each in a juvenile detention facility. 
 
 It is unlikely that Candy Crowley and Poppy Harlow are committed rape apologists; more likely they simply wanted a showy, emotional angle at the close of a messy and sensationalized trial. Since the identity of the victim is protected, and the rapists obliged the camera crews by memorably breaking down and crying in court, they found an angle to match: extremely gifted young men were brought tragically low by... mumblemumblesomething. 
 
 That isn't how rape trials ought to be discussed by professional journalists. 
 
 Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond are not the "stars" of the Steubenville rape trial. They aren't the only characters in a drama playing out in eastern Ohio. And yet a CNN viewer learning about the Steubenville rape verdict is presented with dynamic, sympathetic, complicated male figures, and a nonentity of an anonymous victim, the "lasting effects" of whose graphic, public sexual assault are ignored. Small wonder, then, that anyone would find themselves on the side of these men—these poor young men, who were very good at taking tests and playing sports when they were not raping their classmates. ||||| CNN's unconscionable coverage of the Steubenville Rape Case verdict is pissing everyone off. Newscaster Candy Crowley, general correspondent Poppy Harlow, and legal expert Paul Callan all did their very best to focus solely on the guilty verdict's repercussions on the two rapists. There's next to no coverage of the girl who was brutally raped; instead, they talk almost exclusively of the rapists— the two teenagers who had such bright futures, and now their lives are completely ruined from this one little indiscretion. Isn't it a shame how they suffer? 
 
 Let's not forget that these boys committed truly despicable acts and to all appearances showed no remorse or regret until they were faced with real-world consequences. But still, wasn't it so sad when they broke down crying upon learning they'll spend a few years in juvie? It was so sad that CNN forgot to talk about the sixteen-year-old girl whose life will be spent dealing with the ramifications of rape. After all, she left the house with a vagina; she KNEW the consequences. 
 
 Here's what actually happened on CNN: 
 
 When Crowley said she couldn't imagine how emotional it was in the courtroom, Harlow — who was there and had been inside the courtroom — responds: 
 
 I've never experienced anything like it, Candy. It was incredibly emotional, incredibly difficult, even for an outsider like me, to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures — star football players, very good students — literally watched as they believed their lives fell apart...when that sentence came down, [Ma'lik] collapsed in the arms of his attorney...He said to him, 'My life is over. No one is going to want me now.' Very serious crime here, both found guilty of raping the sixteen-year-old girl at a series of parties back in August. Alcohol fueled parties; alcohol is a huge part of this. 
 
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 Then, after the verdict is read, we watch Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond speak. 
 
 Mays says "I would truly like to apologize to [the girl], her family, my family, and community. Those pictures shouldn't have been sent around, let alone taken." 
 
 "I had no intentions of doing anything like that, and I'm sorry I put you guys through it. I'm sorry," said Richmond. He was held and comforted; his back was pat. 
 
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 On top of all that, Harlow makes a big deal out of Ma'lik Richmond's lawyer — this guy — telling her that today was the first day Ma'lik's dad told him he loved him — doesn't your heart just bleed for him? Because without a father's love, a boy just has to rape. 
 
 CNN legal contributor Paul Callan then enters the chat. 
 
 Crowley inquires: 
 
 You know, Paul, a sixteen-year-old now just sobbing in court, regardless of what big football players they are, the other one just seventeen, a sixteen year old victim, they still sound like sixteen-year-olds... The thing is, what's the lasting effect, though, on two young men being found guilty in juvenile court of rape, essentially? 
 
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 Callan responds: 
 
 Well, you know, Candy, we've seen here a courtroom drenched in tears and tragedy.... The most severe thing with these young men is being labeled as registered sex offenders. That label is now placed on them by Ohio law...That will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Employers, when looking up their background, will see that they're registered sex offenders. When they move into a new neighborhood and somebody goes on the Internet, where these things are posted, neighbors will know that they are registered sex offenders. 
 
 Jesus — this stops just short of becoming a full piece on athletes overcoming rape. Such a tragic story for the two teenagers who raped a girl in multiple locations and took pictures and video of it. So sad for them. 
 
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 Here's what should've happened on CNN: 
 
 When Crowley said she couldn't imagine how emotional it was in the courtroom, Harlow — who was there and had been inside the courtroom — responds: 
 
 Incredibly difficult to watch what happened; these two young rapists that had such promising futures — star football players, very good students, rapists — literally watched as they believed their lives fell apart because they brutally raped a girl...when that sentence came down, rapist [Ma'lik] collapsed in the arms of his attorney...the rapist said to him, 'My life is over. No one is going to want me now.' Very serious crime here, both found guilty of raping the sixteen-year-old girl at a series of parties back in August. Alcohol fueled parties; alcohol is a huge part of this, and I'm saying this right now to explain away rape, which is unacceptable. 
 
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 Then, after the verdict is read, we watch Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond speak. 
 
 Mays says "I would truly like to apologize to [the girl], her family, my family, and community. Those pictures shouldn't have been sent around, let alone taken." Also, this. 
 
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 "I had no intentions of doing anything like that, and I'm sorry I put you guys through it. I'm sorry," said Richmond. 
 
 CNN legal contributor Paul Callan then enters the chat. 
 
 Crowley inquires: 
 
 Sixteen-year-old rapists just sobbing in court, regardless of what big football player rapists they are, they still sound like sixteen-year-old rapists...what's the lasting effect, though, on two young rapists being found guilty in juvenile court of rape, essentially ? 
 
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 Callahan responds: 
 
 Well, you know, Candy, we've seen here a courtroom drenched in tears of a rapist and the tragedy of rape... The most severe thing with these rapists is being labeled as registered sex offenders, and how fucking sad is it that? One gets just two years in a juvenile detention facility, and the other gets JUST ONE YEAR. Isn't that insane, Candy; doesn't it just blow your damn mind? And who knows what kind of rehabilitation they'll actually get; probably next to none. They will most likely exit even more fucked up than they entered, always thinking the worst thing they did was get caught. Perhaps they'll learn to not live-tweet and record their rapes, because jail is probably even worse than juvie — and they'll probably be tried as adults next time. They won't be taught not to rape; the adults around them continue to make damn sure of that. Their lives should be made difficult by this, but they should also get support and education. In reality, they will only get the first thing, and in all the wrong ways. It's a real shitshow, and heartbreaking to say the least. That label is now placed on them by Ohio law...That will haunt them for the rest of their lives, kind of. Employers, when looking up their background, will see that they're rapists. When they move into a new neighborhood and somebody goes on the Internet, where these things are posted, neighbors will know that they are rapists. That is the worst thing that will happen to them — can you believe how good they have it? Now, let's spend the rest of this hour long program talking about what the real victim — you know, the sixteen-year-old girl who was violently raped by her classmates — will deal with on the difficult, never-ending road that is the life of a rape survivor. Because the rapists might have a little trouble finding an apartment to rent in the future, but she'll be dealing with the trauma of rape for the rest of her life. 
 
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 That's a little better. 
 
 Let's hope we can all stay on message because this isn't over yet. Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine said yesterday that the state will convene a grand jury to investigate further charges in the case. 
 
 "This has been particularly hard for the victim and her family," DeWine said. "As I said already, any rape is a tragedy. But, it is even more of a tragedy when that victim is continually re-victimized in the social media." 
 
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 He's right about the social media thing — there's already plenty of shitty things flying around — and it's true that mainstream media can do better, too. 
 
 Update: Much like Fox News, CNN failed to redact/censor the victim's name from footage of Trent Mays' courtroom apology. We've since removed the video. 
 
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 Previously: Steubenville Football Players Found Guilty of Rape 
 
 [Raw Story] ||||| CNN on Sunday aggressively covered the breaking news of the verdict in the Steubenville rape case. Star football players Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond, 16, were found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl. Propelled by social media and mainstream media, the Steubenville case has long held a high profile. 
 
 Defense attorney Walter Madison, right, holds his client, 16-year-old Ma’lik Richmond, second from right, while defense attorney Adam Nemann, left, sits with his client Trent Mays, foreground, 17, as the judge reads the decision. (Keith Srakocic/Associated Press) 
 
 The scrutiny that comes with its profile descended on CNN. In repeated segments yesterday, CNN featured reports from reporter Poppy Harlow, who was in Ohio for the verdict. Here’s the transcript of some of the coverage at the 11 a.m. hour: 
 
 ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news. 
 
 CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: I’m Candy Crowley in Washington. RELIABLE SOURCES is just ahead. 
 
 But, first, a breaking story we’re following. 
 
 Two star football players in Steubenville, Ohio, have been found guilty of raping a West Virginia teenager. The story has attracted national attention. The judge just ruled a few minutes ago. Listen in. 
 
 (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 
 
 JUDGE THOMAS LIPPS, HAMILTON COUNTY FAMILY COURT: In this case, you know, regarding the charges of rape, both defendants Ma’lik Richmond and Trent Mays are committed to the Department of Youth Services for a minimum of one year and a maximum period until you’re 21. 
 
 (END VIDEO CLIP) 
 
 CROWLEY: Again, this case was played out in juvenile court, that is why there was a judge, no jury. He decided on the verdict, as well as, you heard there, talking about the sentence. 
 
 We want to go now to CNN’s Poppy Harlow. She is in Steubenville, and has been covering this trial. 
 
 I cannot imagine having just watched this on the feed coming in. How emotional that must have been sitting in the courtroom. 
 
 POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I’ve never experienced anything like it, Candy. It was incredibly emotional — incredibly difficult even for an outsider like me to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believe their life fell apart. 
 
 One of — one of the young men, Ma’lik Richmond, when that sentence came down, he collapsed. He collapsed in the arms of his attorney, Walter Madison. He said to me, “My life is over. No one is going to want me now.” 
 
 Very serious crime here. Both found guilty of raping this 16- year-old girl at a series of parties back in August, alcohol-fueled parties. Alcohol is a huge part in this. 
 
 […] 
 
 I want to bring in Paul Callan, our CNN legal contributor. 
 
 You know, Paul, a 16-year-old now just sobbing in court, regardless of what big football players they are, still sound like 16 year olds. The other one, 17. A 16-year-old victim. 
 
 The thing is, when you listen to it and you realize that they could stay until they’re 21, they are going to get credit for time served. What’s the lasting effect, though, on two young men being found guilty in juvenile court of rape, essentially? 
 
 PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, Candy, we’ve seen here a courtroom drenched in tears and tragedy and, you know, Poppy’s description, I think, you know, sums it all up. But across America scenes like this happen all the time. 
 
 I know as a prosecutor and defense attorney, when that verdict is handed down, usually it’s just the family and families of the defendants and the victims, there’s always that moment of just lives are destroyed. And lives have already been destroyed by the crime. And we got a chance to see that. 
 
 But in terms of what happens now, yes, the most severe thing with these young men is being labeled as registered sex offenders. That label is now placed on them by Ohio law and, by the way, the laws in most other states now require such a designation in the face of such a serious crime. 
 
 That will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Employers, when looking up their background, will see they’re registered sex offender. When they move into a new neighborhood and somebody goes on the Internet where these things are posted. Neighbors will know they’re a registered sex offender. 
 
 It’s really something that will have a lasting impact. Much more of a lasting impact than going to a juvenile facility for one or two years. 
 
 CROWLEY: Paul, thanks. I want to bring Poppy back in — because, Poppy, there’s — you know, the 16-year-old victim, her life, never the same, again. And I understand you have been talking to some of the families involved. 
 
 HARLOW: Her life never the same again. Absolutely, Candy. The last thing she wanted to do was sit on that stand and testify. She didn’t want to bring these charges. She said it was up to her parents. 
 
 But I want to tell our viewers about a statement that her mother just made, just made in the court after the sentencing. Her mother just said that she has pity on the two young boys that did this. She said human compassion is not taught by teachers or coaches. It’s a God-given gift, saying that you displayed a lack of compassion, a lack of moral code, saying that you were your own accuser throughout this for posting about this all over social media. And she said she takes pity on them. ||||| “My life is over. No one is going to want me now.” That is what Ma’lik Richmond, who is sixteen and was found delinquent (the juvenile court equivalent of guilty) in the rape of a sixteen-year-old girl from West Virginia, said at the end of his trial in Steubenville, Ohio. He also cried. Richmond will be held in juvenile detention for at least a year, and perhaps until he is twenty-one; his codefendant, Trent Mays, who is seventeen, will serve an extra year on a charge of distributing child pornography, for taking and sending around a picture of the victim, naked. The reactions to Richmond’s breakdown, and to the conviction itself, have been divided. There has been a loud yelp not only on Twitter and around Steubenville but also, fairly outrageously, in CNN’s first report, about how tragic this is for those teen-age boys. Poppy Harlow’s exchange with Candy Crowley focused almost entirely on how “two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believe their life fell apart.” Harlow mentioned that the charges were serious and that the victim was young, but talked about the prosecution as a sort of injustice against her, too: “The last thing she wanted to do was sit on that stand and testify. She didn’t want to bring these charges. She said it was up to her parents.” There was no note suggesting that the judge’s verdict might have vindicated that decision, or that maybe sixteen-year-old girls in places like Steubenville would be a little safer now. 
 
 Worse, one could take away the impression that a nice girl doesn’t press charges, rather than that nice boys do not, as was the case in Steubenville, take a girl who has drunk too much and bring her from party to party, assaulting her in a car on the way, until they end up in a basement where they strip and assault her again, and try to make her perform oral sex—except that she is not conscious enough—and then take photographs of her naked body. They do not text “yep” when asked if they had sex with her, or “I shoulda raped now that everybody thinks I did,” but “she wasn’t awake enough”—as Mays did, raising the question of whether he didn’t think it could be rape if she was passed out—and then text the girl to complain about being taken off the football team and tell her “I’ll just never do anything nice for you again.” Nice—but nice people at a party watching all this can’t let it happen, let alone send around pictures and videos with brutal captions afterward, and then leave their friend to look through the images as she frantically wonders what happened to her in the hours she can’t remember. And nice policemen and nice football coaches don’t act like they hope it will just go away until bloggers and social media (and the hackers of Anonymous) push them to act. And all of these people cannot then carry on as though the one who caused the trouble was the sixteen-year-old girl who was raped—and who, according to testimony in the trial, has been dropped by her friends, ostracized, and put under every sort of pressure—and not the rapists. 
 
 There was a good deal of anger in response to the CNN report, which, again, it fully deserved. A Gawker piece by Mallory Ortberg, for example, made the sensible point that “Their dreams and hopes were not crushed by an impersonal, inexorable legal system; Mays and Richmond raped a girl and have been sentenced accordingly.” 
 
 But one can go further. Where is the challenge to the idea that their lives really are “over”? There is something deeply harmful in all of the adults reinforcing the assumption that the lives of teen-age boys are destroyed when a girl says what they have done. There is also something incomplete about just replying that they deserved the consequences (as much as they do). For one thing, it can mean asking a sixteen-year-old to be the one to judge the weight of her own trauma. It isn’t trivializing the seriousness of the sentence to say that teen-agers always think, when one door is closed, that everything is over, and that it’s the job of grownups to explain that it isn’t. A different life is not a worthless one. (Absent parents, not incidentally, are a theme of this story.) 
 
 There are more important and complicated questions beyond that, both practical and ethical. Telling those teen-agers that there shouldn’t have been consequences might mean another victim, in another town, years in the future. It also affects what sort of men the boys become, and one has to think that Richmond and Mays, too, have an interest in that. Does it destroy a teen-ager’s life to take him off the path of being an adult rapist? Perhaps it is too abstractly (even annoyingly) philosophical to ask what the “better” life is—one in which you have a remote shot at being in the NFL, or one in which you might be a person who treats others decently? Still, the question is worth asking. 
 
 It’s also the premise of a juvenile-justice system. Mays and Richmond were tried by a judge who said, in giving the verdict, “I’m aware this is the first time they have been in trouble with the law. But these are serious offenses. If they were convicted in an adult court of these charges, they would be spending many years in prison.” He recommended that they be put in a youth facility. In CNN’s report, Crowley talked to an “expert” who said that the teen-agers would be “haunted” by being on the sexual-offenders registry for the rest of their lives. That actually depends on a hearing later and how juvenile authorities think they’ve done by the time they’re twenty-one. Those who are agonizing about wasted lives might spend their time on the inadequacy and, in many states, effective abandonment of the juvenile-justice system, and how kids who have done even less than these two are, too often, thrown in with adult offenders and written off. (As Rachel Aviv wrote in The New Yorker last year, “Each year, more than two hundred thousand offenders younger than eighteen are tried as adults.”) But first, they should think about a sixteen-year-old girl walking through a town in West Virginia, wondering if she has any friends in the world. 
 
 Photograph by Keith Srakocic/AP. ||||| Journalists took to Twitter Sunday to criticize the media’s coverage of the two teenage boys who were found guilty in the Steubenville, Ohio, rape case. 
 
 Lauren Wolfe, Xeni Jardin and others called out CNN’s Poppy Harlow and Paul Callan for sympathizing with the men and highlighting that the woman who was raped was “allegedly drunk.” On Monday, Fox News, CNN and MSNBC aired the woman’s name. Think Progress called the move “an act of serious journalistic negligence.” 
 
 “What I’m so furious about, after the act perpetrated on this young woman, is our media’s take. Mainstream media, of course, reflects society — so in this case, they reflect rape culture. But shouldn’t we expect more from the media? Aren’t there such things as news judgment and context and analysis?” said Wolfe, director of the Women’s Media Center’s Women Under Siege project. 
 
 “Why is nearly no outlet … bothering to ask what’s wrong with masculinity in this country, with the arrogance of those defending a football team rather than a young woman who was violated? How could the media possibly be putting the emphasis on [the fact that] the girl drank? Did the boys not drink?” 
 
 Wolfe also criticized Nightline for saying the Steubenville debacle is a “cautionary tale for teenagers living in today’s digital world.” 
 
 “As if the problem was what the boys did online, not that they raped a 16-year-old girl and then bragged about it publicly,” Wolfe said. 
 
 CNN’s Harlow talked about how the charge against the two young men “literally watched as their life fell apart.” She didn’t talk, though, about the traumatic effects that rape can have on young women. 
 
 Several times in the past, news organizations have left out important context or used language that suggests the rape victim was at fault. The New York Times was criticized for doing this in 2011 while covering a gang rape in Cleveland, Texas. 
 
 When journalists first began covering the Steubenville case earlier this year, they revealed little about the young woman. Because she hadn’t spoken out and her identity was being protected, coverage focused mostly on the men. In January, for instance, Matt Lauer interviewed the attorney and ex-guardians of Ma’lik Richmond, one of the teenagers who has been found guilty. 
 
 Richmond’s ex-guardians portrayed him in a positive light and said they supported him. Childhood photos of Richmond flashed across the screen as they talked. At the time, it was hard not to wonder, “How is this affecting the young woman? Is there anyone to advocate for her?” 
 
 There was also a lot of talk in the media about the teenage boys’ roles as football players, aka “glorified athlete suspects.” In January, BuzzFeed’s Katie Heaney wrote that an accuser’s athletic achievements can serve as “a legitimate alibi absolving them of wrongdoing.” 
 
 Salon’s Irin Carmon touched upon this issue when describing CNN’s coverage (which Gawker also criticized). 
 
 “Yes, networks are limited in how much footage they can show when it comes to the victim and her family, whereas they can show the boys’ emotional breakdowns, but Harlow was narrating events and not limited to footage. Yes, these boys are young. But the seriousness of their crimes was utterly glossed over in favor of a sideshow about whether a father told his son he loved him,” she said via email. “We rarely see such compassion evinced for young offenders when the crime isn’t rape, or when they lack the social status of football players.” 
 
 Wolfe and Carmon both pointed to a journalist who did a good job covering Sunday’s Steubenville news: Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel. Wolfe praised his column for “going beyond the obvious” and “smashing victim-blaming.” 
 
 Wetzel wrote about the complexities of town where “a culture of extreme arrogance collapse[d] in two tearful rape convictions.” 
 
 Put in the spotlight was the local football team, which, critics said, allowed players to brazenly operate seemingly above the law for years. Social-media accounts, self-made videos, photos and classless text messages exposed an entire world that seemed like a Hollywood script of a high school team out of control. 
 
 He also offered context about the seriousness of rape: 
 
 Rape, experts say, is a crime of power and control more than sex. Underlying all of that is arrogance, and in Steubenville it was taken to the extreme. 
 
 There’s no doubt that covering rape is difficult; it takes time and resources to report on the nuances of the crime, offer context about how common rape is, and explore both sides of the story. But that’s exactly the kind of reporting we need more of. 
 
 [&amp;amp;lt;a href="//storify.com/mallarytenore/reactions-to-media-coverage-of-steubenville-rape-c" target="_blank"&amp;amp;gt;View the story "Reactions to media coverage of Steubenville rape case" on Storify&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;] ||||| The nation's eyes will be focused this week on what happens inside a tiny Steubenville, Ohio, courthouse. The juvenile trial set to begin there is every parent's nightmare and a cautionary tale for teenagers living in today's digital world. 
 
 Steubenville is a town used to having media attention lavished on a much different building. In the middle of this city of 18,000 nestled on the Eastern border of Ohio stands Harding Stadium, the crown jewel of this former steel town. Nicknamed Death Valley, the 10,000-seat structure is home to the Big Red football team, one of Ohio's most storied high school programs. 
 
 Steubenville is a place where football is more than just a past time; it's a religion. And residents here worship on Friday nights. 
 
 Every time Big Red scores, a sculpture of a stallion named Man O' War breathes a 6-foot stream of fire into the night sky over Harding Stadium. But this past season, the team's second-round playoff defeat was overshadowed by a very different firestorm that engulfed the team and the entire town. 
 
 Steubenville Launches Website on Alleged Teen Rape 
 
 Just as the season was gearing up late last summer, two Big Red football players were accused of participating in the rape of a 16-year-old intoxicated girl with friends documenting the alleged crime through cellphone pictures and video. The social media frenzy took on a life of its own, with reports going as far as calling the incident a "gang-rape" of an unconscious girl. In reality, prosecutors contend that Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'lik Richmond, 16, used their hands to penetrate her while she was too drunk to consent, By Ohio law, such a crime constitutes rape, as it does in many places. 
 
 At least three other Steubenville students say they witnessed the alleged encounters, and still others heard about them and posted messages, photographs and videos about the incident on social media sites. 
 
 See the full story on ABC's "20/20" Friday, March 22, at 10 p.m. 
 
 The news soon spread beyond Steubenville, leading both hacker-activists and women's advocacy groups to blow the lid off the story nationally, questioning why people who knew about the allegations weren't also charged under an Ohio law requiring people to report crimes of which they're aware. 
 
 The uproar surrounding the case soon split the town into two furious camps; one that firmly believes there's a conspiracy to cover up a "rape culture" among the football team, and the other believing that the town's once-stellar reputation is being unfairly tarnished by outsiders who don't know all the facts. 
 
 Now, documents and photographs obtained exclusively by "20/20," along with never-before-seen taped police interviews with many of the teenage party goers, are shedding light on many of the facts of the case for the first time. 
 
 On the night of Aug. 11, 2012, Big Red ran a scrimmage to show off the team's newest talent. Trent Mays was a quarterback and honors student from a town 15 minutes outside of Steubenville. With a football coach for a father, Trent had the sport in his DNA. Ever since he could remember, he shared a dream that so many boys in this corner of the Ohio Valley do; to one day hear the roar of Big Red fans from the field. 
 
 A favorite target for Trent that night was wide receiver Ma'lik Richmond. 
 
 Ma'lik came from the rougher side of Steubenville. His earliest memories involve dodging stray bullets in his living room and watching most of his male role models being killed or incarcerated. He had turned to sports early in life as an escape from the realities around him. 
 
 That night, Trent and Ma'lik helped propel Big Red to victory. For the faithful who filled the stands, it was tempting to fantasize about winning a 10th state championship. For the players, it was an excuse to party. 
 
 Hours after the game, Trent, still relishing his role in Big Red's win, was receiving text messages from a girl he had been flirting with over social media, according to his lawyer. She was from just over the Ohio River in Weirton, W.Va., and, his lawyer says, persuaded him to come to a party where she was with several girlfriends. 
 
 Party No. 1: 
 
 When Trent and Ma'lik arrived, the narrow street outside the house of the party was crammed with cars. By some estimates, there were as many as 40 to 50 teenagers there and no adults. What was in abundance was alcohol, according to Ma'lik and several of the attendees. Witnesses said the girl who invited Trent was one of the more tipsy teens there. 
 
 "She had her arm wrapped around me and one hand on my chest. It just felt like she was coming on to me," Ma'lik told ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas in an exclusive interview for "20/20." 
 
 After midnight, the party was breaking up. The intoxicated girl, who would soon be at the center of a rape investigation, made it clear she wanted to leave with Trent, according to the police interviews with several of her friends. They also said she resisted their pleas for her not to leave with a car full of boys. 
 
 Nevertheless, the girl got into a car with Trent, Ma'lik and two other boys and drove off. In her interview with police exclusively obtained by ABC News, the alleged victim says there is little she remembers from the time between the first party and waking up the next morning. 
 
 "I remember everything that happened at the girl's house I was at but I don't remember anything past the point of me walking off the porch with him," she told them. 
 
 Party No. 2: 
 
 When the five teenagers arrived at the next house, the group was much smaller. There are contradictory accounts about whether the girl was able to walk into the house on her own or needed help from Ma'lik and Trent. 
 
 Feeling ill, the girl was taken to the bathroom where she threw up. When she emerged, a photo of her was taken that would become a flashpoint in the case. The photo shows Trent and Ma'lik's holding the girl by her arms and legs with her head hanging back. It is unclear from the picture whether her eyes are open and witness accounts conflict on the exact context of this photo. 
 
 The boy who took it, and ultimately uploaded it to his Instagram account, was another football player for Big Red and an ex-boyfriend of the intoxicated girl in the picture. 
 
 "She was just like laughing, we were all talking, just clowning around and that's when her ex-boyfriend was like, 'Let me get a picture of this drunk B. And that's when we took the picture," Ma'lik told ABC News. 
 
 The picture, Ma'lik maintains, was intended as a joke; he says the girl was conscious, was playing along and was not carried out of the house that way. The girl's civil attorney, Bob Fitzsimmons, calls this characterization "bizarre." 
 
 "It's common sense as to what's going on in that picture," he said. 
 
 Adds Fitzsimmons: "My client was unconscious that night. She doesn't have any memory of what happened." 
 
 ABC News does not name the victims of alleged sexual assaults. 
 
 Several witnesses said that once outside, the girl needed to stop in the street because she was sick again. "She throws up on her blouse and takes her blouse off," Ma'lik said. "And then she asked for something to drink and I gave her my jacket to cover her up." 
 
 After several minutes, the girl got back into the car with those same four boys. It is during this ride that prosecutors contend Trent raped the alleged victim. One of Trent's teammates, who was seated in the backseat, told police that he used his phone to videotape Trent exposing the girl's breasts and penetrating her vaginally with his fingers. The girl was talking but he could not decipher her slurred speech, he told police. 
 
 But Ma'lik, who was seated in the front passenger seat, told ABC News that she was participating. "I turned around and I can see the flash on his phone. Trent was rubbing on her breasts and she was kissing his neck. And then he was trying to unbutton her pants," Ma'lik said. 
 
 Police would never see the video because, by the next morning, he had deleted it from his phone. 
 
 Party No. 3 
 
 That same boy who videotaped the alleged rape in the car, and who is now a key prosecution witness, testified that when the car arrived at his home, the alleged victim was again taken to the bathroom to throw up. 
 
 When the girl emerged, prosecutors say, a second alleged rape occurred. The eyewitness told police that he saw Trent trying to get the girl to perform oral sex on him while she was lying on the floor. Next, he says he saw both Trent and Ma'lik's lying beside her, sexually touching the girl's groin area with their hands. At least one other witness claims to have seen the alleged rape. 
 
 "I wouldn't say she was completely passed out but she wasn't in any state to make a decision for herself," one of the eyewitnesses told police. 
 
 A defense attorney for Ma'lik told Vargas of "20/20" that the alleged victim was conscious enough to provide the pass codes for her cellphone at some point after the second alleged assault. 
 
 "That doesn't sound like a person that's incapacitated to the point where they cannot answer a question, let alone consent," defense attorney Walter Madison said. 
 
 The girl's civil attorney challenges such an assessment, saying, "The mere fact that someone presents an argument doesn't make it true." 
 
 The Steubenville rumor mill was already beginning to churn with speculation about what happened to the intoxicated girl. Naked photos of the girl that were circulated that night fueled a series of tweets and also one YouTube video of an 18-year-old former Steubenville baseball player named Michael Nodianos. In the rambling 12-minute rant, Nodianos, who wasn't present during the alleged rapes, made jokes about the incident, repeatedly referring to the victim as "dead." 
 
 When the sun finally rose over Steubenville the next morning, the 16-year-old alleged victim woke up naked in a home she had never been to before. Her girlfriends, who spent much of the previous night trying to contact her and anxiously reading tweets posted about her, soon were summoned to pick her up. 
 
 ABC News has learned that one of the girls who picked up the alleged victim told police, "She and Trent were just lying on the couch together as if nothing happened. She looked hung over but then she got up and was completely fine." 
 
 By the next day, so much had been written and uploaded to social networking sites that the town was abuzz with rumors and innuendo. Even the girl's parents found out by word of mouth. 
 
 They brought her to the hospital Aug. 13, more than 24 hours after the incident. By then, she had already showered and her clothes from that night had been washed. No physical evidence of a rape was recovered. 
 
 Nevertheless, 10 days after the alleged assault, on the strength of the witness accounts, Ma'lik Richmond and Trent Mays were arrested in the middle of the night and charged with rape and kidnapping (the kidnapping charge was later dropped.) Trent was also charged with disseminating child pornography for texting naked photos of the underage alleged victim. 
 
 "They sent three or four police cars," Trent's mom, Linda Mays, told ABC News. "They surrounded the house and it was surreal." 
 
 By this time, many of the social media posts and pictures had been deleted. But not all were lost. ABC News has learned that, in addition to the picture of the defendants' carrying the alleged victim, they also recovered two additional photos from Trent's phone. One of the photos shows the alleged victim lying naked and face down on the floor and the other shows her naked on the couch seemingly asleep. 
 
 The intersection of idolized athletes, social media over-sharing and reckless teen behavior proved an explosive combination and the story soon went national. In December, the Nodianos video was re-posted by an offshoot of the Internet hacking group Anonymous called Knight Sec. 
 
 The video quickly went viral and appeared to be proof to online activist groups and even the National Organization for Women that other athletes either witnessed or knew of the alleged assault and were never charged with a crime. 
 
 Such sentiments have fueled much speculation of a cover up in Steubenville. Nodianos, who until this winter was attending Ohio State University on an academic scholarship, told police he only saw the alleged victim in passing that night as she left the second location. The details he talked about in the video came from viewing one photo of the alleged victim and talking to the other boys who were with her that night, he said. 
 
 His lawyer has since issued an apology on his behalf for the shameful comments he made on the video posted on YouTube. 
 
 Prosecutors have not commented on the specifics of the case but at the probable cause hearing in October, prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter said, "She was a toy to them that night and the bottom line is we don't have to prove that she said no. All we have to prove is when she's being penetrated that she was unresponsive and not in a position to consent and they knew it." 
 
 Attorneys for Trent and Ma'lik insist that their clients are not guilty of any crime, claiming that she was sober enough throughout the night to consent. 
 
 "What we believe we will be able to support is that she voluntarily proceeded throughout the night with our client," Trent's attorney, Brian Duncan, told ABC News. "There is no indication that she was somehow so intoxicated that she could not have consented to any of the contact that occurred." 
 
 Ma'lik's attorney, Walter Madison, is equally confident in his client's innocence. He questions the prosecution's dependence on testimony from the three teenage witnesses. 
 
 "They all have immunity and have been granted deals not to be prosecuted for their involvement," he said. "When you give a child an option to have a seat at the trial table or tell us what we need to know and in exchange we won't prosecute you, they're probably going to tell you what you want to hear." 
 
 Attorney General DeWine denied that any deals have been made and won't rule out future charges for those witnesses. 
 
 The alleged victim is slated to take the stand, but because she says she has little memory of the night in question, her testimony is not expected to clarify the events of Aug. 11-12. Defense attorneys say the intense scrutiny the case has garnered is creating another challenge for them. 
 
 "We have found it very difficult to find people willing to talk to us," Duncan, Trent's attorney, said. "People have either not returned calls or they have lawyers that are involved. We have material subpoenas that have been issued." 
 
 A West Virginia judge Friday refused to enforce those subpoenas for three juveniles who reside just outside of Ohio. The judge cited a lack of legal precedence for compelling an underage witness to testify in a juvenile proceeding out of state. 
 
 When the trial commences Wednesday, there will be no jury involved. Instead, a juvenile judge will decide the fates of Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond, who face incarceration in a detention center until their 21st birthdays and the almost-certain demise of their dreams of playing football. 
 
 See the full story on ABC's "20/20" Friday, March 22, at 10 p.m.
– CNN is getting slammed everywhere from Twitter to the blogosphere to mainstream media today, thanks to its coverage of the Steubenville rape verdict yesterday. After the teen boys were found guilty, anchor Candy Crowley kicked it to her reporter by saying, "I cannot imagine having just watched this on the feed coming in. How emotional that must have been sitting in the courtroom." Correspondent Poppy Harlow responded, "It was ... incredibly difficult even for an outsider like me to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believe their life fell apart." More of the same followed, as Crowley, Harlow, and legal contributor Paul Callan continued to focus on the rapists rather than on the victim. Washington Post has a full transcript. A sample of the reactions: How about calling the boys what they are, suggests Laura Beck on Jezebel. The coverage should have been more along the lines of, "These two young rapists that had such promising futures—star football players, very good students, rapists—literally watched as they believed their lives fell apart because they brutally raped a girl." "Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond are not the 'stars' of the Steubenville rape trial," writes Mallory Ortberg on Gawker. "They aren't the only characters in a drama playing out in eastern Ohio. And yet a CNN viewer learning about the Steubenville rape verdict is presented with dynamic, sympathetic, complicated male figures, and a nonentity of an anonymous victim." The Huffington Post rounds up some of the incensed tweets, and editor Kia Makarechi calls the coverage "embarrassing and damaging." Other portions of CNN's coverage were similarly problematic, one activist points out to Poynter, such as the fact that the journalists focused on the victim being drunk. And CNN wasn't the only network with issues in its coverage, she adds: Nightline called the case a "cautionary tale for teenagers living in today's digital world." Good Morning America also got in on the act, the Atlantic Wire notes. Before the conviction, the show offered up "a sprawling preview ... with plenty of attention paid to the 'honors student' Mays and wrong-side-of-the-tracks Richmond. The piece ends on a sympathetic note, almost bemoaning the fact that the two teens 'face incarceration in a detention center until their 21st birthdays and the almost-certain demise of their dreams of playing football.'" The Frisky points out that the Onion brilliantly parodied this very circumstance back in 2011.