A Rape On Campus Summary

Rolling Stone’s “A Rape on Campus” was one of the most scandalous journalism mistake ever seen. How a magazine such as Rolling Stone could publish an article that was a complete and total lie, is beyond me. In my opinion, Sabrina Erdely ignored many red flags that should have brought up some skepticism about the story she was reporting on. When Erdely first heard Jackie’s story she said, she remembered being “a bit incredulous” about the vividness of some of the details Jackie offered. This should have been the first red flag that something about this girl’s story was off, but Erdely believed that Jackie’s story was reliable so she continued. Another warning sign would be how Jackie was a “challenging source”. Not only would Jackie not respond to Erdely’s calls, texts and emails, but she also refused to release the name of the man who organized her attack. When Erdely finally did get the name of the man who had overseen her assault, Jackie was unsure how to spell his last name. July 8, 2015, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, a reporter for the Rolling Stone, called Emily Renda, a staff member at the University of Virginia who was working on sexual assault issues there at the time, looking for a
The fact-checker who was assigned to Erdely’s story, relied on Jackie just as Erdely had done. McPherson, who was head of the department responsible for fact- checking, read the final draft and said that she had faith in everyone involved and didn’t see the need to raise any issues with the editors. Despite what happened with the story’s failure, there was not requirement for Rolling Stone to change their editorial systems. Rolling Stone isn’t firing anyone for the mishap but it did tarnish not only the reputation of Erdely and the editors of the article, but also Rolling Stone’s