Posted on 12/05/2014 7:04:35 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Journalists are paid to be skeptical and to distinguish facts from assertions: Don’t get too close to your sources and check what they tell you.
Rolling Stone magazine, it appears, ignored both principles in its explosive story, “A Rape on Campus.”
The 9,000-word article about Jackie, a University of Virginia freshman who alleged a frat-house gang rape, was apparently fraught from the beginning with gaps in basic reporting. The story’s writer, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, as well as a phalanx of editors, fact-checkers and lawyers who massaged the piece before publication, accepted Jackie’s account without locking down key details that would have confirmed, or at least plausibly substantiated, her harrowing tale.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Hey,
How about this on the answering machine:
National leader of this fraternity we’re about to bash, any truth to this? We sent you a copy of a story we’re going to run. We’ll give you a month to investigate it before running the story. Get back to us.
BEEP
One cannot use the words “journalist” and “Rolling Stone” in the same article. Weekly World News has more credibility.
Started choking right there. Couldn't continue for fear I might not survive the rest of the article.
They so much wanted this story to be true, they failed to do any research ... almost always results in yea ol’ egg on face syndrome.
Excellent comment there:
The Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi in a bizarre statement writes , “ To be sure, Rolling Stone was under no obligation to prove that Jackie’s account was true. “
UM- YES THEY WERE. How would Mr. Farhi like to have been accused of rape in a national magazine without being contacted to see if it was true.
**
The article refers to a specific frat, a specific time period, and a specific university. This is an allegation of a serious crime harming the reputation of EVERY member of that fraternity going back years. The implication of the story is that this was standard practice for this frat and all frat pledges to rape girls as part of some sick initiation.
Of course, the liberal kneejerks suspended ALL Greek activities on campus based on the article without beforehand conducting their own investigation as to the veracity of the claims. Not unlike the Duke admins who suspended the Lacrosse team based on lies.
UVA was substantially tarnished as covering up the gang rape. The fraternity. All of the frat members.
Big, big lawsuit heading RS way. Likely should put the rag into bankruptcy, which it deserves.
Hope it’ll be a warning to head by other magazines. Publish lies and you can go down with one false story.
OMG. Who has practiced “journalism” or “Journalistic standards” in the past few decades? WaPo, former home to Janet Cooke and Jason Blair, can hardly point fingers. Oh, but hasn’t it!
Journalism today seems to be about finding someone with a story that dovetails with your own beliefs/agenda, and developing that story.
The story fit their agenda, so they did not question it. Just like Obama fit their agenda, so hard questions were not necessary.
In Obama's America, egg-on-face syndrome has been replaced by double-down syndrome.
Good point. This was THE university and group of students they wanted to go after: White.
Meanwhile, there’s been NO national attention to this story...
Five black student perps arrested for gang rape at a frat.
ROLLING STONE going to cover that one?
Funny reading the comments on that site. Seems a lot of people are taking the red pill these days....
I would hold my breath but my longs are shot ... ;-)
They didn’t have to PROVE it was true, but they needed to VERIFY the truth of it. Maybe what they found wouldn’t stand up in a court, but now it’s blown up in their faces.
OH yes, I heard about that on the NJ Radio station. I did not know they were black. OF courswe, it will get no publicity, but unlike this other story (and many others) somebody in NJ called the cops.
Ahh... Jayson Blair did his fabrications for the even-more-sententious New York Times, where he was the protégé of Executive Editor Howell Rains. The downfall of Blair also ended Mr. Rains' nearly 25-year career at the Newspaper Of All The News That Fits.
Jann Wenner put his half-wit son in charge of the magazine. Now they put terrorists on the cover and write fake stories. There’s no reason for Rolling Stone to even exist anymore. I don’t know anyone who’s bought the magazine since the 1970’s. It’s a zombie publication that serves as filler for the advertisements.
Newspapers exist to push the agenda of the legal industry, as in the Bill Cosby revelations. Preparing the groundwork for the next mega-lawsuit.
Wow, the comments at that site are pretty raw. Many of them would be bounced from FR in a matter of seconds.
I wonder how long CBS will leave them up?
I haven’t read Rolling Stone since the days when they put David Bowie on the cover.
I can’t understand why any girl would go to a frat party without a date, or better yet, with her own father. I recall being invited to such a party when I was about 20 or so and I was insulted just by the invitation. What’s wrong with these stupid girls?
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