How bizarre and disturbing. I’d agree that you don’t have a right to privacy after being _convicted_ of a crime. But simply being arrested doesn’t prove you’re guilty of the crime you’ve been arrested for. Does this newspaper print retractions and apologies if the arrested individuals are later found not guilty?

Second, many cultures have the attitude of saving face above all else. Doing something wrong isn’t wrong unless you get caught. She was young, she was stupid, and she will have learned a very strong lesson. Do you think she’ll ever drive drunk again? And if she doesn’t, and if she never kills anyone or permanently injures them, isn’t that the point. Driving drunk is a choice that is made. It isn’t anything she (or anyone else for that matter) is forced to do. She’s just getting more attention paid because she made the stupid comment that no one in their right mind would believe. And if this method saves lives - isn’t that worth it? If it deters more teenagers from drinking and driving and killing themselves or others, won’t her little embarrassment that will be over in a week have served its purpose? As someone who does not want to be killed by a drunk driver, I applaud the system.

I really think the difference in how some people feel about this has to do with how widespread a story like this can be transmitted these days. Like that guy in Australia a few weeks ago who put a seatbelt around his case of beer but not around his child, these types of stories can end up all over the world today. But does THAT FACT really mean that there should be different rules of journalism? Like I said above (#3) many small town newspapers have been reporting things like this every week for decades. Exactly WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE about a Long Island newspaper doing it?

what’s absolutely pathetic the media’s attempt to harass Gianna. She is a minor, she made a mistake, and she is paying the consequences. Obviously if she was drunk and nervous she would say something ridiculous like that on the spot, any 17 year old who had never gotten in trouble before would. This is not grounds for the media to target and publicly humiliate her.