Legal for newspaper to print? this is long.?

Question

My son received a restraining order/child abuse from his ex-girlfriend from a different USA county. An investigator was sent to his county, local police brought him in to meet with the investigator. (I was there). Our new chief of police & deputy were also in the room. The chief controlled the situation, brow beating worse than what you see on tv. He also told my son to tell the truth now, he wanted to get home to supper! Only once did I hear the investigator ask my son if he did it. After saying no, the chief told his deputy to hand cuff him * take him to the county jail. No miranda rights were ever read. On the 2nd day in jail, he saw the judge who said it was no formal arrest report. My son was released. A few days later, court in the county she lived in. She told the judge she wanted to drop charges, she fabricated them. A child invoved, judge wants more investigation. So is pending. Our local newspaper printed his name, age, and that he was arrested for fondling. He was only detained. This is a small town, I am upset that he is being spoken to so nastily from people for something he says he never did, & she says didn't happen. What can I do, if anything?

Answer 1

No law prohibits publishing factually correct info.  Some laws prohibit the sheriff from releasing info to the press, but if the press learns of something they can publish it.  BTW, he was indeed arrested if he spent two days in jail.  

Answer 2

a newspaper can print a story if it believes it's sources are correct, however, you can contact the paper ad demand equal time meaning your side of the story be printed.

Answer 3

its illegal to state what he did, have you ever seen COPS? at the end of the show they say (or maybe the start) they are inocent unless proven guilty, its to basically save there ***.  

Answer 4

I live in a small town too and everytime the police is envolved  then they have to report it in the local "police Blogger"  It doesn't mean he's guilty  

The other  day the police blog said a women called the police to complain that her husband accused her of running around on him....so go figure.  Just ignore it, most people do.

Answer 5

If the Editor of the newspaper is at all responsible he will print a retraction but he is not required by law to do so. He might be persuaded to print the story about the charges being fabricated by another individual though. Talk to the newspaper.

Answer 6

It's totally legal and proper for the paper to list arrests.  Most people realize that someone is innocent until proven guilty.

What I would do is, IN THE MOST POLITE AND HELPFUL VOICE POSSIBLE, bring the entire story to the attention of the paper.  They will likely find the whole sage makes a more interesting story than the brief arrest article.  They will then probably print a longer, more detailed version, presumably vindicating him.

Answer 7

When someone is placed in jail, they are considered a threat to society.  Therefore, it is fair that the newspapers print this information to warn residents of this potential danger.  

The legal system isn't always the "bad guy."  You have to remember that there are hundreds of thousands of abuse stories popping up, and they have the child's best interest when they investigate this case.  If they just dismissed every case that came to them because the accused said he "didn't do it," thousands of child abusers would be set free.  They have these precautions to protect defenseless children.

If you live in a small town, it shouldn't be hard to get the word around that your son is innocent.