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from the don't-believe-everything-you-read dept.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37879151
Rolling Stone magazine and a journalist have been found guilty of defamation over a false article about a gang rape at the University of Virginia.
The $7.5m (£6m) lawsuit was brought by Nicole Eramo, an associate dean from the university, who said the article had cast her as the "chief villain".
The 2014 article, written by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, included the rape claim of an unidentified female student.
The magazine retracted the article in April 2015, citing inconsistencies.
[...] An investigation by the Charlottesville Police Department had found no evidence that "Jackie" had been gang raped.
[...] The amount [Nicole Eramo] is due in damages will be determined at a later date.
The 10-member federal jury in Charlottesville found that Erdely, the journalist, was responsible for libel with actual malice.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 06 2016, @08:14AM
You want to believe it was about politics when in fact it was about careerism. The reporter wanted a juicy story, the kind of story that wins awards and makes careers.
Erdely was already an award winning journalist. Cripes, you don't get a primo spot at Rolling Stone without having credentials and awards proceeding you.
And beyond Erdely, you seem to forget how the rest of the media came all over themselves selling it, and how anyone who initially questioned the story was shouted down as a rape apologist. That, my friend, is politics.
Politics sold the story, and this was just fanning the flames of the rape hysteria that a certain segment wants everyone to "listen and believe", even when RAINN has declared it largely a myth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 06 2016, @05:17PM
> Cripes, you don't get a primo spot at Rolling Stone without having credentials and awards proceeding you.
And you don't keep that spot unless you keep producing.
> And beyond Erdely, you seem to forget how the rest of the media came all over themselves selling it
And why wouldn't they? If it was true then it was an incredible story. There was no reason to suspect that the reporter did not follow basic journalistic practices.
> anyone who initially questioned the story was shouted down as a rape apologist.
You mean the people who made a lucky guess without having any evidence either? If the reporter is a terrible person for being an agenda-pusher making up claims without evidence, why would people doing the exact same thing with a different agenda be any better?
> , even when RAINN has declared it largely a myth.
And RAINN is the end-all and be-all authority? Are you now going to say that the Baylor rape scandal [dallasnews.com] is made up too? Their own Title IX coordinator [dallasnews.com] resigned staying that the school's administration deliberately rigged the system.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 06 2016, @09:28PM
Different AC:
Erdely is still writing for Rolling Stone because the higher-ups say that it was all the fault of "Jackie".
Making up claims without evidence is different than doubting a story based on a single anonymous witness, with no efforts to substantiate the story with any other witnesses.
The college "rape culture" myth that the parent AC was mentioning is a myth because the rape statistics for US college students is lower than people of similar age that are not college students. Rape happens far more than it should, but perpetuating myths about it is counterproductive.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 07 2016, @01:55AM
Erdely is still writing for Rolling Stone because the higher-ups say that it was all the fault of "Jackie".
Bullshit [dailycaller.com]
myth because the rape statistics for US college students is lower than people of similar age that are not college students.
Is it? What's your source? Did they also control for socio-economic status? Every single woman I've asked has told she me she was was either a victim of a rape or an attempted rape while at college. Yeah, that's anecdata, but damn, what are the chances?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 07 2016, @03:04AM
Bullshit
You're correct, I missed the year on the source I saw. Here is what they said last year:
"Jann S. Wenner, the publisher of Rolling Stone, acknowledged the piece’s flaws but said that it represented an isolated and unusual episode and that Ms. Erdely would continue to write for the magazine. The problems with the article started with its source, Mr. Wenner said. He described her as “a really expert fabulist storyteller” who managed to manipulate the magazine’s journalism process. When asked to clarify, he said that he was not trying to blame Jackie, “but obviously there is something here that is untruthful, and something sits at her doorstep.”"
Is it? What's your source? Did they also control for socio-economic status?
The difference is modest, but the main point is that there is a rape problem in the US and a "campus rape culture" is not the cause of college-age rape (you can contrast this with the very substantial prison rape problem and how the US culture treats it).
http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5176 [bjs.gov]
I'm not sure you could control for socio-economic status, since college education is something that determines it (comparisons from women/men-only schools might be interesting, but same-sex rape is even less reported).
Every single woman I've asked has told she me she was was either a victim of a rape or an attempted rape while at college. Yeah, that's anecdata, but damn, what are the chances?
The chances are pretty bad that you'd collect unbiased data with a large enough, representative sample size. It is sad how common sexual assault is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 07 2016, @02:52AM
Baylor is approximately 58% female, 42% male. From the timeline of the scandal, the number of Title 9 lawsuits and alleged sexual misconduct, the incidence of sex crimes is 0.0017% over a four year period.
In that time, Tevin Elliot has been sentenced to 20 years for sexual misconduct, and Ukwuachu 6 months detention and 10 years of probation.
The majority of lawsuits filed aren't specific to sexual assault, but Title 9 violations.
It seems if there is a scandal at Baylor, it is that sexual assaults are dealt with through Title 9, not as standard criminal proceedings.
But that would raise the standard of evidence to beyond a reasonable doubt instead of preponderance of evidence.
0.0017%