Rolling Stone recently published a story surrounding a woman who goes by Jackie in the article and the night she was reportedly raped by members of the University of Virginia chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity in 2012.
The uncovering of this story led to a year long suspension of all fraternities at UVA. The story, written by journalist Sabrina Rubin Erdely, is now being called a complete journalistic failure.
It has become known that Rolling Stone failed to research and verify facts in its article and accused the fraternity without reaching out to them for comment. It would seem that the rule “Innocent until proven guilty” was not taken into account.
The staff of the Xavierite feels that from a journalistic perspective, it is clear that this article never should have been published. Fact checking is perhaps the most essential element of good and ethical journalism.
As a wise journalism professor has often repeated in her lectures, “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” Apparently the writers of Rolling Stone never took Journalism 101 with Professor Janis Shumac.
It is shocking that even at a major publication like Rolling Stone where this article was seen by not only the author, but also various editors and fact-checkers, it was still published without the thorough research required.
That being said, rape on college campuses is an extremely serious issue and the fact that the journalist failed to investigate Jackie’s claims does not mean that the story is not true or that it should not be taken seriously.
We do not want to adopt a mindset that prompts our first reaction to claims of rape to be scrutiny and disbelief of the victim. It is difficult to encourage victims of rape to come forward regarding their stories if they know they will be met with suspicion.
While we understand that the author did not want Jackie to feel like she was going through another “trial”, red flags should have been raised when the author and editors were unable to link Jackie’s description of her attacker to an actual UVA student or member of the fraternity in question with complete certainty.
In which case, the journalist should have immediately taken Jackie’s “frantic” opposition to speaking to other sources as a sign that something is wrong.This article is an eye-opener to not only students of journalism, but also to the public as a whole.
When reading articles, be aware about what you are reading. How legitimate is the article? Rolling Stone may seem like a magazine that we can trust to give us the facts, but that doesn’t mean you should blindly take what they say as gospel.
For starters, here are some tips on what to look for in a well-researched article.
• How many people were interviewed for the article?
• Are the real names of the sources being used or are they using pseudonyms?
• Are they using direct quotes or paraphrasing everything?
• How specific are they being in their facts (i.e. times, dates, places, etc)?
• And lastly, did they properly cite any outside sources if necessary?
Rolling Stone may have caused damage to the reputation of their magazine, but it leaves us with a good learning experience.
For us at The Xavierite, it is a guide on how to not tarnish our own reputations, but it is also a lesson to all people that not everything you read is the truth and nothing but the truth.
The Xavierite Editorial Board
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