PHOTO: Printed on the front page, of the professional newspaper serving my Corvallis, Oregon State University college town, was a story by Nathan Bruttell, "Porn video earns fine for ex-OSU student," Gazette-Times, Sep. 18, 2015, p. A1, A5, which unfortunately bumped off the front page the story of a physical sexual assault: Nathan Bruttell, "Corvallis woman reports waking up to intruder rubbing himself on her," Gazette-Times, Sep. 18, 2015, p. A3. According to the first story, an OSU student, who as a freshman student used the library to expose her breasts to the world on the internet and "used the video to help propel her fame -- she started using the Twitter handle @KSLibraryGirl in the months following -- and her webcam site states 'yes, I am that girl.'" The other and completely unrelated sexual assault story that got bumped off the front page quoted a police report that said, "she woke up and a male she did not know was on top of her rubbing his erect penis through his clothes and the covers against her body. . ."
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall watching the Gazette-Times editors discussing their decision to bump an actual sexual assault story off the front page in favor of a victimless crime story about a library flasher, which ironically gives her cyberspace sex work priceless free publicity -- I'm sure she thinks the $1,000 fine is more than worth the publicity. Yes, in all fairness, it is true that what the editors chose for the front page was the story that has become a national news story. However, it is unfortunate this editorial decision also minimized the importance of the sexual assault story, which I also agree is too common in a college town.
PHOTO: Front page newspaper article by Nathan Bruttell, "Sex video raises furor at OSU. Former student filmed graphic scene inside library." Gazette-Times, Jan. 30, 2015, p. A1, A6 gazettetimes.com posted Jan. 29, 2015 as "Former OSU student's pornographic video getting national attention" See previous post OSU library tearooms mentioned in letter about sex video (2/4/15)
