Last week Rolling Stone published a shocking article about an alleged gang rape at The University of Virginia. Now some are questioning whether the the writer Sabrina Rubin Erdely did her due diligence investigating the story.
A rape on campus: a UVA student's disturbing tale of her fight for justice after being brutally assaulted: http://t.co/GVnVs0G1Tq
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) November 19, 2014
Amazing response to that horrific @RollingStone story on rape culture at @UVA http://t.co/8JufhrYytU
— JoCaird (@JoCaird) December 2, 2014
@JoCaird @RollingStone @UVA | Here's WaPo's follow up article on @SabrinaRErdely's article. I sense a change. http://t.co/UuHeGVK4sI
— Dan Stewart (@danstew13) December 2, 2014
Uh-oh. "Erdely declined to say whether she knows the names of the alleged perpetrators, including "Drew." http://t.co/UfTkpdHNOe
— Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) December 2, 2014
The concern about Erdely’s account arises largely from the revelation that she did not interview those accused of the horrible crime. The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple writes:
If they were being cited in the story for mere drunkenness, boorish frat-boy behavior or similar collegiate misdemeanors, then there’d be no harm in failing to secure their input. The charge in this piece, however, is gang rape, and so requires every possible step to reach out and interview them, including e-mails, phone calls, certified letters, FedEx letters, UPS letters and, if all of that fails, a knock on the door. No effort short of all that qualifies as journalism.
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/539782815647543296
https://twitter.com/jessicarights/status/539909088885612544
https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman/status/539901955272105984
.@RollingStone sending blanket statement to reporters asking questions. I got the same thing as @ErikWemple: http://t.co/RjbaqtB3JP
— Ashe Schow (@AsheSchow) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/SonnyBunch/status/539896015349108736
https://twitter.com/SonnyBunch/status/539896486860169219
(An update to Wemple’s post indicates that Rolling Stone has since corrected that error.)
Wow! Wash Post reporter presses author of Rolling Stone rape story on facts–she tells him not to get "sidetracked."http://t.co/U5xQCVFPUa
— Christina Sommers ? (@CHSommers) December 2, 2014
Journalists' credo:If your mom says she loves you, check it out. What happened to that? @SabrinaRErdely @SeanWoods12 http://t.co/W0xKPWGz7H
— Christina Sommers ? (@CHSommers) December 2, 2014
I don't know what happened at UVA, but it's becoming increasingly apparent that Rolling Stone doesn't either. http://t.co/ZeR47bkHXi
— IWantNothingHat (@Popehat) December 2, 2014
Erdely should have done Jackie's story justice w/ actual reporting MT: @ErikWemple Rolling Stone whiffs in reporting: http://t.co/vtPTxf9dLD
— Erik Rison (@erikrison) December 2, 2014
Erdely has reportedly gone to ground and is refusing to take questions.
Author of UVA rape story,Sabrina R.Erdely,refused to take questions from NewRepublic writer.Referred her to PR.dept.
http://t.co/iN1bBjHiYA— Christina Sommers ? (@CHSommers) December 2, 2014
@CHSommers @instapundit @JudithShulevitz IMO, not a good thing. Process is painful, but great for credibility .
— Kurt Weinschenker (@KurtBW_WTRF) December 2, 2014
@CHSommers | Apparently, Sabrina R.Erdely is no longer willing to discuss article at all. http://t.co/UuHeGVK4sI
— Dan Stewart (@danstew13) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/JohnSilencio/status/539842556264464385
https://twitter.com/JudithShulevitz/status/539813956840595457
I don't doubt Jackie's story, which is why Erdely's "sidetracked" quote here is painful to read. Sounds so gaslighty. http://t.co/bL3rawSr29
— Anna Sproul-Latimer (@annasproul) December 2, 2014
Like Ferguson, facts become secondary to the narrative as soon as the activists get involved. RE: UVa story in Rolling Stone.
— RBe (@RBPundit) December 2, 2014
@RBPundit The real issue is systemic, i.e. discernible only by those practiced in Critical [insert Social Justice topic] Theory.
— Beelzebub’s Tesseract (@CJHerod) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/dangainor/status/539783066169131008
Moral of the story: get the facts right. Rolling Stone story may well be true, in which case close scrutiny will only help it.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) December 2, 2014
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