Smith’s first question was whether Avram was absolutely certain the photographs were legitimate. Yes, he told her. An expert hired by the defense team had confirmed the images were real, and had been taken in the order indicated by the time codes. In addition, a student who appeared in several frames wore a watch that showed times consistent with the photographs’ timestamps.

Avram’s arguments. Avram then made the case to Smith for using the photographs. With respect to ABC’s rape coverage policy, Avram thought he was on solid ground. Once they took pains to blur the woman’s face, the photos would actually do less to reveal her identity than the brief verbal description ABC was already using, he argued. “When you say she is a single mother of two who went to this college... you’ve done 500 times more identifying of her [than the photos],” Avram says. “The photos didn’t identify her at all.”

Nor did the photographs reveal anything about the alleged victim that was not already public: She was an exotic dancer and she had attended the party. “We know that,” Avram said to Smith. What’s more, these photos did pertain to the question of whether a rape had occurred that night. “I [didn’t] think the photos were necessarily conclusive,” Avram says, but—especially in the absence of DNA information—they represented “a major piece of evidence in the case—you couldn’t ignore them.”

In addition, Avram believed the photos strengthened his team’s reporting. “We were doing a story about the timeline and we had pictures that purported to [show] the timeline,” Avram recalls thinking. “Why wouldn’t we use them?... The whole reason we were trying to get them was to use them. It wasn’t not to use them.” What’s more, there was a commercial consideration that should not be ignored, he says: The photographs contextualized the story and made for compelling viewing. “It had become irrelevant to say our story had more information,” he says. “What people would remember were the pictures.”

Finally, Avram concluded, after freely reporting the claims of the accuser for weeks, ABC had an obligation to show legitimate evidence produced by the defense that cast doubt on her story. To do so was not to play into the hands of the defense lawyers, he argued; it was simply fair-minded.

Making the call. Smith listened to these arguments and then threw a few additional considerations into the mix. ABC generally did not broadcast information that might discredit a possible rape victim. But the case was unusual. For one thing, it was starting to look as though the accuser might have fabricated the story. Deciding that question was a matter for the police, or the courts. Still, did ABC have some kind of moral duty in this circumstance to stand by the accuser’s version of the story unless it was proved false in court?

Then there were the photos themselves, which Smith found “tawdry.” She believed that while the photos were not irrelevant to the case, neither were they conclusive. How much did they add to the substance of the story—and were they, in the end, more voyeuristic than newsworthy?

Smith was also less sanguine than Avram about whether blurring the accuser’s face in the photographs would truly protect her identity. If ABC aired such photos in this instance, would other rape victims in the future view the network as untrustworthy? “I think it’s very difficult to change your mind when you’ve first made a determination that you’re going to protect someone,” Smith says. “The next person you talk to will remember that.” On the other hand, NBC had already publicized the photographs. The images were in the public domain, part of the collective story, and would be readily available online.

Smith reviewed her options. She could shelve the photos entirely. She could approve their use in the West Coast morning broadcast—and thus make sure NBC did not have a photo exclusive in that market. She could buy herself a little more time to consider the matter—withholding permission to air the photos in the morning newscast, but preserving the possibility of doing so that evening on “World News Tonight.” Or she could allow ABC.com to use them online, while keeping them off the broadcast. She had one hour to make her decision.