Van de Velde mired in furious media frenzy

COURTESY THE YALE BANNER CENTER OF ATTENTION: Political science lecturer James Van de Velde has largely remained silent as the media has uncovered damaging information about his past.

Since the New Haven Police Department (NHPD) announced that Yale political science lecturer James Van de Velde is among a pool of suspects in the murder of Suzanne Jovin, DC '99, media coverage of the horrific Fri., Dec. 4, stabbing has developed into a feeding frenzy for information linking him to the crime.

While some people are eagerly studying the news for the latest revelation about Van de Velde's past, others are troubled by the media's probing. "The media has branded him a murderer without even an arrest," John R. Williams, a New Haven lawyer specializing in civil liberties, said. He likened the situation to a "horrifying witch hunt."

Although police have yet to reveal any physical evidence or construct a motive linking Van de Velde to the killing, the media has continued to run potentially damaging stories, relying heavily on police leaks and information gathered from unnamed and second-hand sources. So far, stories have run in the New Haven Register and the Hartford Courant detailing Van de Velde's dismissal from a Quinnipiac College journalism program early last December, as well as his failure to complete one journalism internship and his termination from another.

The most devastating story, however, was a report that Van de Velde was the target of previous complaints of harassment filed by two area television reporters with the New Haven police. And just this week WTNH Channel 8 picked up a Yale Daily News report that in the days preceding her murder, Jovin was upset with Van de Velde for being a lax senior thesis adviser.

Critics, including Williams, insist that the relationship between these stories and Van de Velde's possible involvement in the crime is purely incidental and speculative. WVIT Channel 30 Spokesperson Michael Friedman claims some of these stories are simply not true. He pointed out that a report in the Fri., Jan. 15, Register that Van de Velde's internship at WVIT ended in termination are false. "I don't know where that's coming from. [WVIT] is not very happy about these stories," Friedman said.

Friedman commented that Van de Velde successfully completed his 10-week internship without any spectacular occurrences. "He did everything right," he said, adding that Van de Velde even sent a letter of thanks at the conclusion of the internship.

According to Williams, inaccuracies in recent media coverage could do serious and potentially irreversible damage to Van de Velde's reputation, regardless of whether or not he is found guilty. He not only thinks that the lecturer will have a difficult time receiving a fair trial if he is ever charged with murder, but also doubts that his name would be cleared if he is not charged. "Suppose the guy is innocent, good lord," he exclaimed.

"High-profile murders have to be solved because too many people are troubled," Williams said. But unfortunately, solving the case means closing it, and closing the case doesn't necessarily mean nabbing the right person. He mentioned the story of former client Ben Miller, a man sent to death row for a string of prostitute murders, only to be found innocent.

He believes the Miller case is representative of how suspects in high-profile murders are often tried and found guilty by the media. "Once the Stamford-Norwalk prostitute murders became a cause, there had to be an arrest," Williams said. "The Jovin case is another one of those things. It's too horrifying to have an upper-middle-class person killed in an upper-middle-class neighborhood."

If Van de Velde is innocent, he may have little opportunity of restoring his now sullied reputation. The wrongfully accused and misportrayed can always sue for libel, but the strict language of libel laws makes success in court rare. "The standards for libel are often hard to meet," Yale Law Professor Robert Burt explained. He added that a victory in court never guarantees the restoration of one's reputation.

Successful libel suits can help rein in what many have come to see as an out-of-control media, but neither Williams nor Burt foresee court cases becoming an effective means of restraint. Williams explained that unless these settlements are large enough to do financial harm to the news organizations involved, they will not have an impact. "As long as [these news organizations] can make a profit, they'll continue," he said.

Williams added that the problem of restraint is complicated by the conflict between the right to privacy and the freedom of the press, a conflict he says "limits us to after-the- fact correctives." He, Burt, and Friedman agree that self-regulation by the media is the most effective method for preserving freedoms before problems arise. In regard to WVIT's attempt to provide fair, accurate coverage, Friedman expressed his hopes that other news organizations will follow suit. "I think everyone's losing focus of the story," he said. "There's a 21-year-old girl who's been murdered."

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