All three defendants in a suit over a debunked Rolling Stone story about an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia were found Friday to have defamed a former dean at the school.
The $7.5 million defamation suit, filed by former University of Virginia assistant dean of students Nicole Eramo, named reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely, Rolling Stone magazine and its parent company Wenner Media as defendants. A federal jury found Erdley liable for defamation with actual malice, while Rolling Stone and Wenner were also found responsible for defaming Eramo, according to The Washington Post.
The jury is expected to hear additional evidence from Eramo and her lawyers this week in order to decide how much she was affected by the narrative in the Rolling Stone story, according to the Post report. Eramo may ask for a different sum than the $7.5 million in damages she originally requested.
The magazine released a statement after the verdict, obtained New York Times reporter Sydney Ember, apologizing to those who may have been hurt by its reporting, including Eramo:
Rolling Stone’s statement on guilty verdict. pic.twitter.com/kyyxMPo2NW
— Sydney Ember (@melbournecoal) November 4, 2016
The story in question depicted an alleged gang rape of a student at UVa. who the magazine called “Jackie” by men in the school’s Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, as well as what she described as her inability to find help on campus.
When the story was first published in November 2014, it received praise and sparked protests on the university’s campus. But, after Charlottesville, Virginia Police were unable to find any evidence of the attack—or even that the fraternity held a party the night Jackie alleged she was raped—the magazine retracted the story and apologized in April 2015.
A Columbia Journalism School review found that Rolling Stone’s story was a “failure” that “could have been avoided.” It asserted that Erdely and her colleagues did not heed questions presented by fact checkers or think critically about problems presented by her reporting. It also brought up the point that, by trying to get a rape victim’s story out there to raise awareness, Rolling Stone actually did harm by spreading the narrative that women lie about being raped.
Phi Kappa Psi also sued Rolling Stone for defamation in 2015. That case is still pending, according to the Miami Herald.
This post has been updated.
I love Rolling Stone and this is a just verdict. Putting this story out there caused very real damage to to cases brought by others who truly were victimized. It’s also likely that it will stop real victims from confronting their attackers in court.
This was irresponsible journalism at it’s very worst.
Now, what about lies put forth regularly by other media outlets?
Very well put, @sooner!
You mean, like this one?
Fox Host: Report On ‘Likely’ Clinton Foundation Indictment ‘Was A Mistake’
If there is such a “campus rape culture” problem, then why do so many feminists have to invent these kinds of stories? The UVA hoax was far from the only one.
All right, hold on now. “So many feminists”? It’s not anywhere near as common as you think. It’s just that in the rare instances when it happens, it becomes major news, and observers start to think that it happens a lot more than it actually does. I think it’s quite possible that some of the women who have made false reports don’t think of themselves as feminists. Prosecuting rape even when there is clear evidence is really difficult, because the guy can just claim it was consensual, and it becomes a he said, she said situation. Let’s try to keep some perspective here.