U-Va. dean sues Rolling Stone for 'false' portrayal in retracted rape story

[Seeking Serenity]

Source: Washington Post

A University of Virginia associate dean of students filed a multi-million dollar defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone on Tuesday, alleging that the magazine portrayed her as callous and indifferent to allegations of sexual assault on campus and made her the university’s “chief villain” in a now-debunked story about a fraternity gang rape.

Nicole Eramo is seeking more than $7.5 million in damages from Rolling Stone, its parent company Wenner Media and Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the investigative journalist who wrote the explosive account of sexual assault on the campus in Charlottesville, Va. The magazine retracted the story after news organizations and the Columbia University journalism school found serious flaws in it.

[Read the complaint: Eramo v. Rolling Stone]

Eramo, who is the university’s chief administrator dealing with sexual assaults, argues in the lawsuit that the story destroyed her credibility, permanently damaged her reputation and caused her emotional distress. She assailed the account as containing numerous falsehoods that the magazine could have avoided if it had worked to verify the story of its main character, a student named Jackie who alleged she was gang raped in 2012 and that the university mishandled her case.

“Rolling Stone and Erdely’s highly defamatory and false statements about Dean Eramo were not the result of an innocent mistake,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed in Charlottesville Circuit Court. “They were the result of a wanton journalist who was more concerned with writing an article that fulfilled her preconceived narrative about the victimization of women on American college campuses, and a malicious publisher who was more concerned about selling magazines to boost the economic bottom line for its faltering magazine, than they were about discovering the truth or actual facts.”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/u-va-dean-sues-rolling-stone-for-false-portrayal-in-retracted-rape-story/2015/05/12/2128a84a-f862-11e4-a13c-193b1241d51a_story.html?tid=sm_tw

[iandhr]

1. Unfortunately RS set back victims a long way

[scscholar]

2. This is ridiculous

They shed light on what could be happening every single day on every single campus.

[Seeking Serenity]

3. Ridiculous??

Possibly (allegedly) defame a blameless third party just to "shed light on what could be happening every single day on every single campus"??

That's NOT the way journalism is supposed to work.

You should read the dean's complaint before making such a comment.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. I think the poster is being facetious

Or doing the old "Look at me pretending to be a liberal" arguments.

[Seeking Serenity]

7. Ah. Thanks.

Missed it by that much.

ETA: I'm doing this all via smartphone, so post counts aren't visible. I'm guessing that one has a low number?

[cstanleytech]

10. If its an Android phone and you are using Chrome

you could just always set it to request the desktop site under options.

[yeoman6987]

4. No they didn't

They out and out put it out as fact. I am surprised it wasn't more. It should have been.

[NaturalHigh]

6. You should be ashamed to say such a thing.

There are lots of ways to "shed light" on a problem without resorting to slander. How would you feel if someone lied about you in a national publication which is read by millions just to make a point?

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

8. Enjoy your stay, dude n/m

[MisterP]

9. and if they winn Jessica Valenti will say "this proves me EVEN morer right!"