This past week, FOX News and the New York Post caused damage to hundreds of thousands of people on the sex offense registry in this country over the way they covered the story of the attempted kidnapping of the 11-year-old girl in Escambia Co.

I am contacting both outlets and would greatly appreciate having other people let them know the damage that was caused by the careless way this story was covered.

The New York Post article, used by FOX News, was written by Jesse O’Neill. The best email address that I have come up with so far for the New York Post is:  tips@nypost.com or 646-357-3838.

To contact FOX News, go to foxnews.com, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Contact Us.  On “Submit a request”, use the dropdown arrow and choose “request a correction or clarification to a story”.  You will need to paste the URL (web link) for the page that you are reporting a problem with:

https://www.foxnews.com/us/11-year-old-florida-girl-fights-off-sex-offender-at-bus-stop

In the New York Post article, I counted O’Neill’s use of the term “sex offender” 5 times, mostly in the captions under the photos and, of course, in the title.  FOX News also used the term from the Post article.  None of the other national or local news outlets that I have listened to has used “sex offender”.  The New York Post is listed as a tabloid meaning it likes to print sensational articles.  FOX is doing the same thing.

Some points that can be used in our replies to the NY Post and FOX, which are contained in the Weekly Update found at the FAC webpage under Media, are:

• This guy will likely be in prison forever; it’s the other 74,000+ people on the Florida registry who will be subjected to whatever new legislation named after this poor 11-year-old, that will unquestionably be introduced in the coming legislative term. What new collateral consequence, additional requirement, further restriction, or punishment will be imposed on registrants because of this tragedy they had no responsibility for?
• Who is this unidentified “sex offender”? Jared Stanga.  He is not on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement sex offender registry.  In a national search including all states, territories, and Indian Country, Mr. Stanga is NOT listed on a sex offender registry.
• The “sex offender” registry did absolutely nothing to prevent the attempted abduction of this girl, except point the finger at a population that had nothing to do with it and potentially divert the focus of law enforcement had they not captured the perpetrator.
• When the politicians use this tragedy to try to expand the registry or enact proximity ordinances around bus stops, let’s remind them that the registry did nothing to prevent this, as it did nothing to prevent the abduction of Jacob Wetterling and as it did nothing to prevent the abduction of Adam Walsh.
• If everyone would just take a deep breath and rational look at these policies, they will see they are ineffective and should be abolished.

THE BIG TAKEAWAY THAT FOX AND THE NEW YORK POST NEED TO UNDERSTAND:  THEY GOT IT WRONG.  MR. STANGA WAS NOT ON THE “SEX OFFENDER” REGISTRY, AND BY TRYING TO CONNECT PEOPLE ON THE REGISTRY WITH MR. STANGA, THEY HAVE JUST MADE A LIFE, THAT CAN ALREADY BE DIFFICULT BECAUSE OF THE MEDIEVAL STATUTES AND ORDINANCES RELATED TO THE REGISTRY, EVEN MORE DIFFICULT FOR THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF REGISTRANTS IN THIS COUNTRY WHO ARE NOW LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS.

Thank you for your help,

Media Chair (media@floridaactioncommittee.org)