On Media Blog Archives Select Date… December, 2015 November, 2015 October, 2015 September, 2015 August, 2015 July, 2015 June, 2015 May, 2015 April, 2015 March, 2015 February, 2015 January, 2015

Columbia Journalism School to conduct Rolling Stone review

Rolling Stone Editor and Publisher Jann Wenner has asked members of the Columbia Journalism School to perform an independent review into a November piece which featured a brutal gang rape at the University of Virginia, which has since come under intense questioning over the accuracy of the report.

Dean Steve Coll and Dean of Academic Affairs Sheila Coronel will perform a review of the editorial process that led to the publication of this story. Rolling Stone will then publish the report, Wenner said in a statement on Monday.

The magazine has backed away from the piece written by Sabrina Ruben Erdely. The Washington Post and other publications have been re-reporting the events described in the piece and have found several striking inconsistencies, including that several people quoted in the article were never actually contacted by the magazine and that the accused rapists were never contacted.

The full note, which will appear in Rolling Stone's next issue, is below:

In RS 1223, Sabrina Rubin Erdely wrote about a brutal gang rape of a young woman named Jackie at a party in a University of Virginia frat house [“A Rape on Campus”]. Upon its publication, the article generated worldwide attention and praise for shining a light on the way the University of Virginia and many other colleges and universities across the nation have tried to sweep the issue of sexual assault on campus under the rug. Then, two weeks later, The Washington Post and other news outlets began to question Jackie’s account of the evening and the accuracy of Erdely’s reporting. Immediately, we posted a note on our website, disclosing the concerns. We have asked the Columbia Journalism School to conduct an independent review – headed by Dean Steve Coll and Dean of Academic Affairs Sheila Coronel – of the editorial process that led to the publication of this story. As soon as they are finished, we will publish their report.

Hadas Gold is a reporter at Politico.