Rolling Stone apologizes for UVA rape story, says there are 'discrepancies'
Will Dana, the managing editor of Rolling Stone, wrote an open letter saying the magazine may have "misplaced" its trust in the source of the much-discussed campus rape story last month.
The article, "A rape on campus," described the brutal gang rape of University of Virginia student Jackie at a fraternity house. After the Rolling Stone article was published, UVA's president Teresa Sullivan promised there would be a full investigation into alleged sexual assaults at the school. But a new report in The Washington Post claims that there are a number of discrepancies in the details of Jackie's rape account.
"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 in the open letter on Friday.
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Sources told the Post that Phi Kappa Psi, the fraternity in question, did not hold a party on Sept. 28, 2012, as the Rolling Stone article stated. The woman's friends as well as campus advocates against sex assault also told the Post that they now questioned what really happened on that night.
"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," Dana wrote. "We are taking this seriously and apologize to anyone who was affected by the story."
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Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.
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