Jurors have found a Rolling Stone author liable in defamation suit over a story she wrote about a rape at the University of Virginia that turned out to be untrue.
BREAKING: Rolling Stone and reporter Sabrina Erdely found liable for defamation over infamous UVa gang rape article
— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) November 4, 2016
JUST IN: Jury finds Rolling Stone reporter liable in defamation suit over University of Virginia rape story – media
— Reuters U.S. News (@ReutersUS) November 4, 2016
The story was immediately received with suspicion by many on the right because it was so salacious and had contrary details. The left swooped in and yelled “rape culture” at everyone, until the story slowly began collapse.
Now it looks like Rolling Stone magazine is going to have to pay for putting more faith in leftist narratives than in journalistic integrity:
Jurors found a reporter liable in a $7.5 million libel lawsuit Friday that accused Rolling Stone magazine of defaming a university administrator in a now-discredited story about an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia.
The jury deliberated for two full days before handing down the verdict against reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely and in favor of University of Virginia administrator Nicole Eramo, who asked for $7.5 million in her lawsuit against the 48-year-old magazine.
The magazine, which was also named in the lawsuit, was found liable on 3 claims, according to NBC29 reporter Henry Graff.
Eramo alleged that she was unfairly portrayed as indifferent in a 2014 story called “A Rape on Campus,” which described the alleged assault of a student identified only as “Jackie” at a university fraternity house in 2012.
The article’s publication in November 2014 set off protests at the university and other colleges across the country. But the story fell apart when other news outlets surfaced questions about Jackie’s claims and uncovered that Erdely had never contacted any of the accused rapists or several others referred to by pseudonyms in the story.
Charlottesville, Va. police. said after an investigation that they could find no evidence supporting Jackie’s retelling, and Rolling Stone eventually retracted the article in April 2015. An “autopsy report” published in the Columbia Journalism Review described the article as “a failure that was avoidable,” faulting in part the journalists who “failed to surface and debate problems about their reporting or to heed the questions they did receive from a fact-checking colleague.”
This is great news for those of aren’t leftist idiots who believe all men are guilty for every rape on the face of the Earth.
You can read more about the Rolling Stone rape hoax story here.