By Peggy O'Farrell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Amy Howton cringes when she reads news reports and rumors about the 19-year-old Colorado hotel worker who has accused NBA star Kobe Bryant of sexual assault.

The last thing most rape victims want is to be identified, said Howton, sexual assault response coordinator at the University of Cincinnati's Women's Center.

"A hundred percent" of the women she counsels worry friends or family will find out they've been raped, she said.

Howton and other advocates for rape and sexual assault survivors worry the media frenzy surrounding the Bryant case will discourage victims from coming forward to report they've been assaulted.

Six cable television networks carried Bryant's Wednesday court appearance in Eagle, Colo., live. While mainstream media are usually reluctant to identify rape victims - regardless of the accused's status - several Internet sites have published the woman's photo and name. One site posted her address and home phone number.

"(Women) worry about victim-blaming," Howton said. "It goes back to those attitudes and those questions people ask about what kind of responsibility (the victim) had. Either they're lying or they asked for it, they dressed inappropriately or behaved inappropriately."

Criminal cases involving celebrities always get more than their share of ink and airtime.

Much of the buzz about Bryant's accuser has been generated on the Internet. But a radio talk-show host in Los Angeles named the accuser on the air, arguing that not naming her victimized Bryant by not giving him the right to confront his accuser. Bryant has said he had sex with the woman, but that it was consensual.

"It's unfortunate that the spotlight has been shined on the victim in this case," said Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen. "Unfortunately, in high-profile cases, that seems to be the way things work out. No one knows what went on in that room besides her and Mr. Bryant."

The media onslaught on Bryant's accuser could discourage victims from reporting attacks, Allen said. "They're not the ones who should be on trial in these cases."

"This kind of coverage is always very disturbing to victims," said Mary Jo Davis, executive director of the Women's Crisis Center of Northern Kentucky. The center, based in Covington, provides assistance and shelter for victims of domestic violence, rape and sexual assault.

In recent years, reports of sexual assaults have risen slightly even as reports of homicides and other violent crimes have declined.

Davis believes the increase is occurring because women feel safer in making the reports, not because more assaults are occurring.

"This is the sort of thing that could upset that balance," she said.

Staci Kitchen, the executive director of the Ohio Coalition on Sexual Assault, thinks the sheer volume of information and speculation about the accuser indicates the people posting the information believe her allegations are false.

"A lot of the disclosures of her identity are based on the assumption that she is lying," Kitchen said. The coalition is a network of victim-assistance providers, law enforcement, medical personnel and crisis centers.

"I really don't believe, and I might be naÔve myself, that if people believed she was telling the truth that they would be OK with identifying her."While experts condemn the "blame the victim" tone of some coverage, they're quick to blame the media for the constant blitz of facts and speculation.

Clayton G. Napier, a Hamilton attorney and president of the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, doesn't think coverage of the Bryant case serves the public's right to know.

"The public isn't gaining anything," Napier said. "The only entity gaining anything is the media that's selling it. It's sad, really."

"Unfortunately, it seems to me like the media, particularly the television reporters, are not willing to sit still and let the judicial process run its course," said Jeffrey McCall, a communications professor at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. "Everyone wants to have the big break in the story or get the witness or find the information that's not being handed out by the court. It's not the media's job to be involved in this judicial proceeding."

McCall also worries that the flood of information about Bryant's accuser could endanger her safety.

"I don't even know that it would be safe for a woman like that to be out in public. Sports fans are so dedicated that sometimes they think they're helping their star athlete heroes by intimidating the witness or the alleged victim," he said.

Bryant's celebrity status won't make the case easier for the accuser or the prosecution, experts said.

"In such a high profile case you pretty much have a person who is being accused of this crime who is well-liked and has such a good reputation, so people cannot conceive of him having committed rape," Kitchen said.

E-mail pofarrell@enquirer.com