Sex Workers, ESPLERP Commend Florida Judge’s Decision To Protect Privacy (YNOT)

Read the full article by Mallory Hall at YNOT.com

San Francisco, CA– The Erotic Service Providers Legal Education and Research Project (ESPLERP), a sex worker activist group, recently called out national media organizations for attempting to make private information public.

Organizations highlighted by the call-out include the Associated Press, ESPN, ABC and the New York Times. ESPLERP addressed these organizations’ efforts to make public private video recordings obtained during the massage parlor sting involving New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. For those that don’t recall, Kraft is one of dozens of spa patrons accused of receiving “illicit massages” at a spa in Jupiter, FL.

“These media organizations claim a public interest in releasing these videos. In truth all they care about is their ratings — because ‘sex sells.’ Shame on them,” said Maxine Doogan of ESPLERP.

Doogan continued, “They know that shaming a prominent businessman like Robert Kraft will sell papers and draw in viewers. When ratings are at stake, they simply do not care about anyone’s constitutional right to privacy. I wonder how they’d feel if Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. — the owner of the New York Times — was caught up in something like this?”

In spite of these medias’ best worst efforts, a Florida judge was able to put a stop to this alleged sensation-seeking.

Mallory Hall is from Central Texas. She has worked in journalism since her university years and enjoys exploring unexpected occurrences in ordinary places.