UVA and the alleged frat rape - Rolling Stone backpedals

Re: Rolling Stone on rape at UVA

What would she gain by lying? Keep in mind that Sabrina Erdely wasn't sniffing around at this point.

 

Re: Rolling Stone on rape at UVA

If friends were counseling her to go to the police about being raped, wouldn't it follow that she was raped? (Or at least there was a time that she was telling people she had just been raped?)

 

Re: Rolling Stone on rape at UVA

At this point, I'd be willing to bet anything that Jackie was raped, by someone or someones in that frat, and most of the embellishment, creative license or falsehoods are from the reporter.

 

Re: Rolling Stone on rape at UVA

Attention? Sympathy? Revenge?

I don't know. Sometimes, people lie.

 

Re: Rolling Stone on rape at UVA

I've said all along, I DO think some kind of group sex/roofie/turned rape situation happened. And it seems like that should have been enough to base a story on. A woman feels like she was raped, feels like she can't go to the cops, she does go to the administration, it goes nowhere, her life is ruined, UVA is one of many schools that needs to fix this shit.

It's the journalism here bugs me. I don't blame Jackie at all. This may, in fact, be how she chooses to remember it. But as a journalist, I think RS failed to nail down this story in almost every way possible.

 

Re: Rolling Stone on rape at UVA

You know what we could have here?

Season 2 of Serial.

 

Re: Rolling Stone on rape at UVA

Selfishly, yes. But man, if I were Koenig, I would run screaming from any story that's already received a ton of attention. In fact, I would decide, early on, that I was going to pick something totally anonymous, and that all 12 episodes would be locked down before episode one aired. I actually think there are so many great serials that you could do involving small-time sports, as the dramatic tension of a season coming to an end or graduation looming would naturally lend itself to suspense. I wrote one in my newspaper days that was as fun as anything I'd ever worked on. I would love to see, at some point (assuming Serial runs for many years) the This American Life staff turn its talents to something like that.

 

Re: Rolling Stone on rape at UVA

Yeah, I coul see that, and not to go too far on this tangent ... but from a marketing standpoint, nailing down "the real story" of something everyone thinks they know about already could be pretty popular.

I'm just looking at all these questions and the WaPo and Slate articles and saying that's something Sarah Koenig never would have let go unchecked.

 

Re: Rolling Stone on rape at UVA

Interesting letters written to the Cavalier Daily by Jackie and Stacey in support of Dean Eramo:

Dear UVA Administration,

Of all the professors, deans, faculty and staff at the University of Virginia, Dean Nicole Eramo has made the most significant and, ultimately, the most positive impact on my life. Dean Eramo has truly saved my life. If it were not for her, I do not know if I could be alive today. When I came to Dean Eramo my first year, I was depressed and suicidal...I was barely hanging on. Dean Eramo was helpful and understanding and, above all, compassionate. She listened attentively to my story and provided me with several resources. At the time, I was scared and I felt alone and I was in no position to pursue legal or University action. Dean Eramo gave me the power to make my own decisions--something so small that made me feel like I finally had some sense of control in my life. Eventually, Dean Eramo put me in contact with Emily Renda and other members of One Less. This action alone was probably the best thing anyone has ever done for me. I can't imagine what my life would be like now if it were not for Nicole Eramo. She has changed everything for the better. She has made me a better person. She has helped me get through the most difficult time in my life and has been with me every step of the way. I have said it before and I will say it again and again--Dean Nicole Eramo is an asset to this university. I do not want to go to the University of Virginia if she is not a resource for students in need of help in the aftermath of sexual violence. There is no one more qualified or more capable of doing this job. Dean Eramo is above and beyond the best resource the University has.

- Jackie, Rolling Stone Interviewee

~~~

Dearest Dean Eramo,


I was saddened to see you portrayed in such a negative light. You truly have the most difficult job on grounds, and I respect and appreciate how you have performed it. My critique in Rolling Stone was not of you- it was of the administration as a whole. Your job is not to encourage reporting, it is to be an unbiased source of information. I appreciate the gravity of that task given how strongly you wish to make our community a safer place. However, I think it's time for the University to change; to create a more reporting-positive environment to show that there are tangible consequences to such horrible crimes. But until we change the rules the administrators such as yourself must adhere to, you must do your job as described. I understand and acknowledge these current limitations and plan to be a part of a constructive solution. I think highly of you and I always have; I hope that was not lost in this article.

With gratitude,
“Stacy,” Rolling Stone Interviewee

 

Re: Rolling Stone on rape at UVA

Her work needs a systematic review, Stephen Glass-sytle, though in fairness there's been no indication from Jackie that she misrepresented what Jackie told her. It appears to be sloppy/shoddy journalism, relying on a single source, rather than Blair- or Glass-level fabulism.

 

Re: Rolling Stone on rape at UVA

I understand that it's your take on it, and that is where we part.

Few things are more important to me than journalism. This is one of those things. If that makes one a crummy journalist, that's the chance I'll take. The message is ultimately what's important here.

 

Re: Rolling Stone on rape at UVA

It's a slippery slope to justify stuff this way. I could have made the same argument about the Sandusky stuff, saying it matters little if Paterno is really culpable as long as it helps bring to light the issue of coaches molesting young kids, and I don't know if you'd have signed off on that. I have two daughters. I get the gravity here. I'm terrified. I just think it does a lot of long-term damage to the fight to say "Well, who cares what's true? What matters is change."