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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: 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.