Last update - 00:00 01/01/2008
Case closed against journalist accused of sex crimes, indecent acts
By Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondent
The Tel Aviv District Prosecutor's Office decided Tuesday to close the case against journalist Adam Shuv, saying the sex crimes allegations against him are unfounded.
Shuv worked until recently as the editor of TheMarker Cafe, the social networking site of Haaretz' sister publication, TheMarker.
In recent weeks, Shuv was investigated for allegedly having unlawful sex with one minor and of committing indecent acts with another.
In a letter Shuv sent out to various media outlets in response to the prosecutor's decision, he wrote that, "unfortunately, almost all the media sinned in this matter severly. Those that published early and unethically allegations even before I was called up for investigation; and those that published the allegations, complaints, and details that never happened even in the police files."
Shuv, who worked as a journalist for criminal affairs in the past, wrote that, "in these hard times in my life I am definitely doing some personal soul-searching and asking myself if in my past, as a journalist, I was sensitive to the dignity and innocence of the suspects. I hope this matter will be a milestone and a real turning point in the media's handling of cases such as these."
Shuv's attorney, Lior Epstein, said in response to Haaretz that "the right of the public to know is not the right of the public to pry. Instead of focusing on cases that have ended, the entire attention was given to the opening of cases." He maintains that the newspaper headlines had already determined Shuv's destiny. "But the closing of the case will be published on page six, because it's only a follow-up."
"At this point," Shuv wrote, "without infringing on my right to sue for compensation and corrected publications from those media outlets that slandered my name, I believe that journalistic integrity and ethics demand at least the publication of the prosecutor's swift decision in an emphasized and prominent manner, and not less than the way you published the allegations."
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