Community Chat

[Irshgrl31201]

Even the Columbia review believes this has set back progress for reporting rapes. They said "Erdely and her editors had hoped their investigation would sound an alarm about campus sexual assault and would challenge Virginia and other universities to do better. Instead, the magazine's failure may have spread the idea that many women invent rape allegations." At the University of Virginia, "It's going to be more difficult now to engage some people … because they have a preconceived notion that women lie about sexual assault," said Alex Pinkleton, a UVA student and rape survivor who was one of Erdely's sources.

Rolling Stones many many failures including reporting, editing, editorial supervision, fact checking and even interviewing the people that Jackie said she was with the night of the attack. They didn't even question or fact check many of the things she said that had happened with her friends and then used false names for other friends and attributed quotes to them that they themselves said they never said.

The simple fact is that the police have spent several hundred hours investigating this case and cannot find one shred of evidence and out of the 70 people they interviewed, only 2 believe this may have happened. Yes, the police said the case is still opened and they are open to new evidence but that in no way means they believe what she is saying and the people she said that attacked her are in any way presumed or suspected of being guilty by them.

However their innocence in the general public is still doubted (as you can see here) and this has tarnished the reputation of not only the fraternity but the men of that fraternity for absolutely not one shred of evidence. I do hope they sue and they will no doubt win that. They have many legal options of reasons they can sue because this article ignored even the basic principles of Journalism 101. The university, the police and the Columbia review all found massive discrepancies in Jackies story.

As a woman, my first impulse is to stand behind a fellow woman who claims she has been assaulted and support her. There comes a time when not only is there no evidence or even people supporting her story but major discrepancies and out and out lies in her story noted by the police, the school and the Columbia review and you still have people casting a disbelieving doubt on the frat and its members. I am not the type of person who will defend a fellow women just for the fact she is a fellow woman. If she lied about this, I think that is the most awful thing she could do not only to these men but to other woman who are victims of attacks because that only makes it more difficult for legitimate victims. I think if it can be proven she or any other woman makes a false allegation, they should be imprisoned.

[scotttie]

On 4/6/2015 Irshgrl31201 said:

Even the Columbia review believes this has set back progress for reporting rapes. They said "Erdely and her editors had hoped their investigation would sound an alarm about campus sexual assault and would challenge Virginia and other universities to do better. Instead, the magazine's failure may have spread the idea that many women invent rape allegations." At the University of Virginia, "It's going to be more difficult now to engage some people … because they have a preconceived notion that women lie about sexual assault," said Alex Pinkleton, a UVA student and rape survivor who was one of Erdely's sources.

Rolling Stones many many failures including reporting, editing, editorial supervision, fact checking and even interviewing the people that Jackie said she was with the night of the attack. They didn't even question or fact check many of the things she said that had happened with her friends and then used false names for other friends and attributed quotes to them that they themselves said they never said.

The simple fact is that the police have spent several hundred hours investigating this case and cannot find one shred of evidence and out of the 70 people they interviewed, only 2 believe this may have happened. Yes, the police said the case is still opened and they are open to new evidence but that in no way means they believe what she is saying and the people she said that attacked her are in any way presumed or suspected of being guilty by them.

However their innocence in the general public is still doubted (as you can see here) and this has tarnished the reputation of not only the fraternity but the men of that fraternity for absolutely not one shred of evidence. I do hope they sue and they will no doubt win that. They have many legal options of reasons they can sue because this article ignored even the basic principles of Journalism 101. The university, the police and the Columbia review all found massive discrepancies in Jackies story.

As a woman, my first impulse is to stand behind a fellow woman who claims she has been assaulted and support her. There comes a time when not only is there no evidence or even people supporting her story but major discrepancies and out and out lies in her story noted by the police, the school and the Columbia review and you still have people casting a disbelieving doubt on the frat and its members. I am not the type of person who will defend a fellow women just for the fact she is a fellow woman. If she lied about this, I think that is the most awful thing she could do not only to these men but to other woman who are victims of attacks because that only makes it more difficult for legitimate victims. I think if it can be proven she or any other woman makes a false allegation, they should be imprisoned.

Well said.

[FUTURE]

Irish, I wholeheartedly agree, especially with your last paragraph. It absolutely sickens me that a women potentially set back our progress in women reporting rape, and increasing the stigma with reporting it. I will always WANT to support a woman who reports s e k s u a l assault, but if, in fact, she was lying (which we can't be 100% certain one way or the other, at this point, but a lot of signs are pointing to her not having this occurred), then she should be punished. Think of the amount of manpower spent on this whole thing. And now other women who are assaulted will have the fear of other's not believing them. I'm not a fan of the current state of frats and sororities, and what they are today, but I sure hope this frat takes Rolling Stone to the bank. This whole thing is absurd!

[RainCityGirl]

On 4/6/2015 SnowPink said:

Wasn't it Rolling Stone that made Tsarnaev (the man who blew off Americans limbs and killed a little boy) into some sexy rock star?

NO, they did not make him into some sexy rock star. They published the photo that had been used throughout the media coverage and did a story about him, his brother, and his family and how he got to where he was at the time....which was charged with multiple murders. If you had read the article, you would know that.

[Irshgrl31201]

Hey Scottie, thank you! Future, I agree with everything you have said too especially regarding the current state of frats and sororities.

[melfie]

On 4/6/2015 scotttie said:

On 4/6/2015 Irshgrl31201 said:

Even the Columbia review believes this has set back progress for reporting rapes. They said "Erdely and her editors had hoped their investigation would sound an alarm about campus sexual assault and would challenge Virginia and other universities to do better. Instead, the magazine's failure may have spread the idea that many women invent rape allegations." At the University of Virginia, "It's going to be more difficult now to engage some people … because they have a preconceived notion that women lie about sexual assault," said Alex Pinkleton, a UVA student and rape survivor who was one of Erdely's sources.

Rolling Stones many many failures including reporting, editing, editorial supervision, fact checking and even interviewing the people that Jackie said she was with the night of the attack. They didn't even question or fact check many of the things she said that had happened with her friends and then used false names for other friends and attributed quotes to them that they themselves said they never said.

The simple fact is that the police have spent several hundred hours investigating this case and cannot find one shred of evidence and out of the 70 people they interviewed, only 2 believe this may have happened. Yes, the police said the case is still opened and they are open to new evidence but that in no way means they believe what she is saying and the people she said that attacked her are in any way presumed or suspected of being guilty by them.

However their innocence in the general public is still doubted (as you can see here) and this has tarnished the reputation of not only the fraternity but the men of that fraternity for absolutely not one shred of evidence. I do hope they sue and they will no doubt win that. They have many legal options of reasons they can sue because this article ignored even the basic principles of Journalism 101. The university, the police and the Columbia review all found massive discrepancies in Jackies story.

As a woman, my first impulse is to stand behind a fellow woman who claims she has been assaulted and support her. There comes a time when not only is there no evidence or even people supporting her story but major discrepancies and out and out lies in her story noted by the police, the school and the Columbia review and you still have people casting a disbelieving doubt on the frat and its members. I am not the type of person who will defend a fellow women just for the fact she is a fellow woman. If she lied about this, I think that is the most awful thing she could do not only to these men but to other woman who are victims of attacks because that only makes it more difficult for legitimate victims. I think if it can be proven she or any other woman makes a false allegation, they should be imprisoned.

Well said.

I agree. Great post.

[Irshgrl31201]

On 4/6/2015 terrier3 said:

On 4/6/2015 RainCityGirl said:

Just curious, but why are they not suing the woman who lied??? Or are they? I think this case points out that sometimes women DO lie about rape, which makes it even more difficult for legitimate rape victims.

FYI - The police, in a press conference, said that they believed SOMETHING had happened to her - but where, when and by whom couldn't be proven to prosecute anyone.

At a news conference Monday, Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said the woman, identified as “Jackie” by the magazine, refused to cooperate with police in their investigation.

Longo said the case has been suspended, but he emphasized that it has not been closed.

“There is no substantive basis to conclude that what was reported in that article happened,” Longo said. “That doesn’t mean something terrible didn’t happen to Jackie.”

They did not say they believed something happened. They said they found no evidence that the rape occurred but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Big difference between saying they believed something happened. They spent several hundred hours investigating this case and they could not find a shred of evidence of assault and out of the 70 people they questioned only 2 people believed the rape happened. The police, the school and Columbia found not just a couple, but many inconsistencies in her story.

[Irshgrl31201]

Thank you Melfie.

[shamalamadingdong4]

Trust but verify. It was RS's professional obligation to verify, but they saw a hot story and decided to run it without any research. Shame on them, and shame on them especially for not firing that reporter.

[Chalcedony]

I hope the fraternity prevails in their lawsuit. Regardless of how one feels about the Greek system, Rolling Stone failed in their journalistic responsibility and committed libel. The accused should also sue "Jackie" for falsely naming him as her rapist. Did something happen to her? Possibly, but not what she claimed had happened. Instead, she was caught in an elaborate cat fishing scam.