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CBS News Does Not Name Duke Accuser

By Brian Montopoli

April 12, 2007 / 9:33 AM EDT / CBS News

(CBS)

Yesterday, I wondered if the "Evening News," which devoted most of last night's broadcast to the Duke rape case, would name the accuser. Some other media outlets are now using her name; the New York Post, which put her picture on its cover, ran a column arguing that if "a rape accuser is revealed as a liar, her name should be spoken loudly and often - as loudly and often as the names of those whom she falsely accused have been over the past year."

CBS News, we now know, has elected not to name the accuser. In an email, Linda Mason, Senior Vice President, Standards and Special Projects, told me why.

"We made a decision NOT to air the name or picture of the accuser although we have both," wrote Mason. "Part of the rationale is that the [North Carolina] prosecutor did not charge her and kept certain information about her under seal...the story seemed to be the boys, their families and Duke."