Journalist who initially debunked Rolling Stone hoax article responds to report, discusses impact of social justice narratives on bad journalism

But if you examined the rest of the article with the same critical eye that you examine Jackie’s story, you’ll find that it, too, is deeply deceptive. “A Rape on Campus” is fashioned on selective presentation of material, the use of bogus or discredited statistics, quotes that are either fabricated or taken out of context, unconfirmed allegations, anonymous sources, the deliberate exclusion of evidence contrary to the author’s thesis, and material that is either fabricated or presented in a way that is so profoundly misleading it can only be evidence of incompetence or dishonesty. (The multiple verses of a UVa fight song, for example, that nobody at UVa has actually heard.)

It's really irritating that while the author goes in detail through the Jackie bit, he just asserts this whole paragraph with no evidence or discussion. He discussed some parts of it in the above, but UVa is actually under investigation (since before the article being written) for its handling of rape cases, and Erdeley did speak to other rape victims who were campaigning for better advocacy (it just so happened the Jackie story turned out too good not to lead with, or to be true). The quotes he mentioned Erdeley made up for them were hyperbolic embellishments, but not actually pertaining to the substance of their claims IIRC. It doesn't mean there are no problems ever with rape on campus. If anything, both Phi Psi and rape victims deserve a reasonable, proportionate assessment of the problem.

Also, regarding the song, in the original piece Erdely linked to a YT video of a room full of frat guys singing the UVa fight song, including the misogynistic lyrics. Clearly someone had heard it - actual refutation by this author would discuss how this was or was not representative (of campus culture at large? of only frat culture? etc).

/r/KotakuInAction Thread Parent Link - richardbradley.net