Site last updated: Friday, September 18, 2026

Log In

Reset Password
Butler County's great daily newspaper

Report cites multiple failures in Rolling Stone rape article

Columbia review highly critical

RICHMOND, Va. — Rolling Stone is pledging to review its editorial practices but won’t fire anyone after a leading journalism school issued a blistering critique of how it reported and edited a discredited article about an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia.

The Columbia Graduate School of Journalism said in the Sunday report the magazine’s shortcomings “encompassed reporting, editing, editorial supervision and fact-checking.”

Two of the report’s authors, dean Steve Coll and academic dean Sheila Coronel, were scheduled to discuss their investigation at a news conference today in New York.

The analysis was accompanied by a statement from Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will Dana apologizing for the failures and retracting the November 2014 story. Some University of Virginia students said none of that will erase the article’s repercussions.

“I think the real casualty of the report is the University of Virginia’s trust in journalism,” said Abraham Axler of New York City, president of the university’s Student Council. “I don’t think any University of Virginia student going through this will ever read an article the same way.”

Maggie Rossberg, a second-year nursing student from Crozet, Va., said her chief concern is the effect the journalistic lapses will have on rape victims. “This is probably going to discourage other sexual assault survivors from coming forward,” Rossberg said.

The Columbia review was undertaken at Rolling Stone’s request and posted on both organizations’ websites. It presented a broad indictment of the magazine’s handling of a story that had horrified readers, unleashed protests at the university’s Charlottesville campus and sparked a national discussion about sexual assaults on college campuses.

It came two weeks after the Charlottesville police department said it had found no evidence to back the claims of the victim, identified in the story only as “Jackie,” who said she was raped by seven men at a fraternity house.

The article’s author, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, also apologized, saying she would not repeat the mistakes she made when writing, “A Rape on Campus.”

More in National News

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

* indicates required
TODAY'S PHOTOS