“Ethics in journalism” has been mocked by enthusiast and mainstream media journalists alike. They lied about #GamerGate calling it a “harassment campaign” based on nothing but hearsay, and defamed anyone who wanted better ethics in media journalism; they thought they could libel and defame their way to fame, and that no matter how many lies they told it would all be accepted under the banner of fighting for Social Justice. Well, Rolling Stone learned the hard (and expensive) way that being an SJW and ignoring facts to push an agenda, libel people and defame them, comes at a cost… a $7.5 million dollar cost.

Adland.tv reported that the Rolling Stone article about the UVA rape – a fake story that cost people their reputation at the University of Virginia and in the public eye – has crippled the magazine dearly. The court has ruled against Rolling Stone, finding them guilty on the charges of libel and defamation.

According to the New York Post, UVA associate dean Nicole Eramo could be awarded $7.5 million in the verdict, [Update 11/5/2016: with additional damages to possibly follow]. Eramo was dragged through the mud by the media for not being more proactive against the group of young men accused of rape, even though it turned out that the rape never occurred.

The Rolling Stone stood by the story for as long as possible after publishing it in late 2014, but eventually had to retract the story in 2015 after critical investigations into the piece revealed that the whole thing was based on a fabrication with zero evidence.

The magazine and other media outlets tried using the excuse that stories like the UVA rape case and “Mattress Girl” were “conversation starters” and that it helped bring awareness to “rape culture”. The reality is that these fabrications lessen the importance of real rape victims and real rape cases, and it makes it difficult to believe stories from actual victims when these situations do arise.

The outcome of the situation involving Rolling Stone writer Sabrina Erdely has led some people to start investigating previous stories, as some have questioned if perhaps other stories may have been in result of fabrication as well.

At the end of the day, the jury brought down the hammer of justice against the magazine because they believe in something that Rolling Stone doesn’t… ethics in media journalism.