The applause directed at Rolling Stone magazine for documenting the story of “Jackie,” a University of Virginia student who was allegedly gang-raped by several fraternity brothers at a house party, has morphed into cries of remonstration as discrepancies arise in the magazine’s reporting.
On Friday, Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will Dana published a statement announcing that Jackie’s harrowing account was not entirely factual. Although Dana did not specify which details in the story were inaccurate, he expressed regret that the magazine had failed to contact the men Jackie had accused.
“In the face of new information, there now appear to be discrepancies in Jackie’s account, and we have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced,” Dana wrote. “We were trying to be sensitive to the unfair shame and humiliation many women feel after a sexual assault and now regret the decision to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account.”
The original story, published on Nov. 19, titled “A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA” by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, gave a detailed account of Jackie’s rape by seven men at the Pi Kappa Psi fraternity house in Fall 2012. The article included a detailed investigation of an allegedly backwards rape culture within the UVA campus in which students are afraid to report their rapes for fear of being ostracized by fellow students and faculty members.
Jackie’s story was originally lauded as a groundbreaking piece that called attention to the taboo of “rape culture” that many argue dominates college campuses. Along with other rape victims at UVA, rape victims across the nation cheered that Jackie had been brave enough to detail an issue that had plagued them for years.
Unfortunately, with Rolling Stone’s admission that they might not have had their facts straight, rape culture skeptics are using Jackie’s discrepancies as proof that rape culture doesn’t exist at all and that people are too quick to believe anyone who claims to be a victim. Now Jackie, along with thousands of other student rape victims, is left to shoulder the blame. Worse still, people are questioning whether or not rape culture deserves addressing in the first place in a government setting.
“Clearly, we don’t know the facts of what did or did not happen in this case,” said U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York at a Tuesday Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on campus sexual assault. “But these facts have not changed. UVA has admitted they have allowed students who have confessed to sexually assaulting another student to remain on campus. That is and remains shocking.”
Had Rolling Stone taken the time to conduct a proper investigation, none of this would have happened in the first place. It is the fundamental task of a reporter and editor to consider all sides of a story before publishing a report. Even if the writer had wanted to maintain journalistic integrity by only including Jackie’s account in the initial report, a follow-up story with the accused predators’ perspective should have followed shortly after, despite the fact that Jackie requested that Rolling Stone not contact the men she accused.
True, telling a rape story takes an enormous amount of courage, and anyone willing to bring their story to the press should be treated with respect and sensitivity. Yet no one should be unquestionably believed for the sole fact that everyone interprets situations differently. The inconsistencies in Jackie’s story could have been a result of trauma, and a few minor mistakes could be forgiven.
But a reporter needs to get as close to the truth as possible, and only talking to one main source rarely results in the entire story. Had Rolling Stone obtained an account of the night from any other source involved, they could be closer to reporting the entire story, and Jackie would not be left to serve as a symbol of college girls crying rape.
Furthermore, even if Jackie’s story is entirely fabricated, one false story does not discredit the thousands of rapes that take place on college every year. A number of people contacted Rolling Stone after Jackie’s story was published just to say the same thing had happened to them. If Jackie, despite some misconstrued facts, was an inspiration for them to speak out about their own traumas, there is absolutely nothing wrong that.
“Now Jackie, along with thousands of other student rape victims, is left to shoulder the blame. ”
Got a source for that outrageous claim?
“Furthermore, even if Jackie’s story is entirely fabricated, one false story does not discredit the thousands of rapes that take place on college every year. ”
Actually there have been many false rape claims on college campuses. And according to recently released DOJ data, campuses do not experience thousands of rapes every year. The often bandied 1-in-5 college women will be raped claim is actually only 0.03-in-5. Now even one rape is unacceptable but crafting solutions to a “rape problem” grounded solely on hysteria can on,y lead to injustice for the accused.