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'''Sabrina Rudin Erdely''' is an American magazine reporter and university journalism instructor. A graduate of the [[University of Pennsylvania]], Erdely has written extensively about persons who have alleged rape and bullying. Currently a freelance journalist, she previously wrote for ''[[Philadelphia (magazine)|Philadelphia]]''.<ref name="philly">{{cite news |last=Middleton |first=Josh |date=2 April 2013 |title=Local Writer Nominated for ASME Award for Gay-Centric Story in Rolling Stone|url=http://www.phillymag.com/g-philly/2013/04/02/local-writer-nominated-asme-award-gay-centric-story-rolling-stone/ |newspaper=Philadelphia Magazine |location=[[Philadelphia, PA]] |accessdate=5 December 2014 }}</ref>
'''Sabrina Rubin Erdely''' is an American magazine reporter and university journalism instructor. A graduate of the [[University of Pennsylvania]], Erdely has written extensively about persons who have alleged rape and bullying. Currently a freelance journalist, she previously wrote for ''[[Philadelphia (magazine)|Philadelphia]]''.<ref name="philly">{{cite news |last=Middleton |first=Josh |date=2 April 2013 |title=Local Writer Nominated for ASME Award for Gay-Centric Story in Rolling Stone|url=http://www.phillymag.com/g-philly/2013/04/02/local-writer-nominated-asme-award-gay-centric-story-rolling-stone/ |newspaper=Philadelphia Magazine |location=[[Philadelphia, PA]] |accessdate=5 December 2014 }}</ref>


==Early pieces==
==Early pieces==

Revision as of 20:25, 6 December 2014

Sabrina R. Erdely
File:Sabrina Erdely.jpg
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Pennsylvania
Occupationjournalist

Sabrina Rubin Erdely is an American magazine reporter and university journalism instructor. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Erdely has written extensively about persons who have alleged rape and bullying. Currently a freelance journalist, she previously wrote for Philadelphia.[1]

Early pieces

Erdely's 1996 story for Philadelphia, in which a woman alleged to have been raped by her gynecologist, was nominated for an American Society of Magazine Editors award. A 2012 story for Rolling Stone, alleging purported bullying of gay students in Minnesota, was similarly nominated.[1] Erdely's 2013 Rolling Stone story "The Rape of Petty Officer Blumer" chronicled the alleged drugging and rape of a U.S. Navy female petty officer by three U.S. Army soldiers.[2]

UVA rape reporting

File:Phi Kappa Psi protestor.png
Protests erupted against Phi Kappa Psi after Erdely's controversial Rolling Stone article on the fraternity.

Initial report and reaction

In 2014, Erdely says she set out to find a sexual assault story at an elite school.[3] Her resulting story for Rolling Stone, titled "A Rape on Campus" and published in the December 2014 issue of that magazine (first available in November 2014), alleged a macabre gang rape by members of Phi Kappa Psi at the University of Virginia that was supposed to have occurred two years prior.[4] In the aftermath of the report, the University suspended all fraternities on campus, and English professor Allison Booth declared "the whole [fraternity] culture is sick." [5][6] In a nationally published op-ed Colin Downes, a law student at the University of Virginia, called for fraternities to be treated as "criminal street gangs" and subject to asset forfeiture.[7] On November 20, 2014, the Phi Kappa Psi house was vandalized as unknown persons spray-painted the exterior with the allegations of rape published in Rolling Stone and broke windows.[8]

The University of Virginia Interfraternity Council, in a statement released on its website, responded to the accusations by noting, in part, that "an IFC officer was interviewed by Rolling Stone regarding the culture of sexual violence at the University. Although the discussion was lengthy, the reporter elected not to include any of the information from the interview in her article."[9]

Story questioned

Richard Bradley, editor in chief of Worth magazine, was the first mainstream journalist to question the Rolling Stone article, in a blog entry written on November 24, 2014.[10] After an interview Erdely gave to Slate, in which she appeared to offer evasive responses about the way in which she investigated the piece, some commentators escalated questioning the veracity of the story. It was later revealed Erdely had not interviewed any of the men accused of the rape. [11][12][13] Erdely defended her decision not to interview the accused by explaining that the contact page on the fraternity's website "was pretty outdated."[14] Erik Wemple rejected Erdely's statement on why she had not interviewed the accused, explaining that the severity of the accusations she was reporting required "every possible step to reach out and interview them, including e-mails, phone calls, certified letters, FedEx letters, UPS letters and, if all of that fails, a knock on the door. No effort short of all that qualifies as journalism."[15]

File:Rolling Stone November 2014 issue.png
Erdely's controversial story on an alleged rape at the University of Virginia appeared in the December 2014 issue of Rolling Stone.

Fraternity officials, who rejected the published allegations, noted a number of discrepancies with the story, including that there was no party held on the night of the alleged rape, as the accuser had claimed, that the "ringleader" of the rape named in the story was not a member of the fraternity as indicated in the piece, and that details about the layout of the fraternity house provide by the accuser were wrong. Fraternity officials also noted that, prior to the Rolling Stone story, there had never been a criminal investigation or allegation of sexual assault against an undergraduate member of the chapter.[16] In rejecting the article's claims, the fraternity further stated its full support for the investigation launched by the Charlottesville, Virginia police department at the request of university officials in response to Erdely's article.[17]

Washington Post reporters who later interviewed the accuser at the center of Erdely's story said that she had felt "manipulated" by Erdely. The accuser also claimed she asked Erdely to be taken out of the article, a request Erdely refused.[18][19]

Aftermath

Though Rolling Stone distanced itself from her story on rape at the University of Virginia, Sabrina Erdely declared she could have not done it "any better."

Response by Rolling Stone and Phi Kappa Psi

Erdely stood by her story, stating "I am convinced that it could not have been done any other way, or any better."[5] Rolling Stone subsequently published an apology stating there appeared to be "discrepancies" in the accounts of Erdely's sources and that their trust in the accuser was misplaced.[20] Officials of Phi Kappa Psi described the claims as "vile."[21]

Media backlash

Media indictment of Rolling Stone and Erdely was swift. A number of commentators accused the magazine of setting rape victims "back decades," while the Washington Post described the Rolling Stone story as a "catastrophe for journalism." [13][13][22][23] Natasha Vargas-Cooper, a columnist at The Intercept, said that Ederly's decision not to interview the accused fraternity members showed "a horrendous, hidden bias ... the premise that none of these guys would tell the truth if asked," while a staff editorial in the Wall Street Journal charged that "Ms. Erdely did not construct a story based on facts, but went looking for facts to fit her theory."[24] [25] Lauren Kling of the Poynter Institute criticized Rolling Stone for "blaming [the] source" instead of taking ownership of their own errors. [26] Anna Merlan, a writer for Jezebel who had earlier called Reason columnist Robby Soave an "idiot" for expressing skepticism of the Rolling Stone story declared "I was dead fucking wrong, and for that I sincerely apologize."[27]

National Review columnist Jonah Goldberg called for Phi Kappa Psi to sue Rolling Stone, while at least one legal expert has opined there is a high likelihood of "civil lawsuits by the fraternity members or by the fraternity itself against the magazine and maybe even some university officials." [28][29]

Local reaction

Students at the University of Virginia expressed "bewilderment and anger" following Rolling Stone's apology for its story, with one female student declaring "Rolling Stone threw a bomb at us." Virginia Attorney-General Mark Herring said he found it "deeply troubling that Rolling Stone magazine is now publicly walking away from its central storyline in its bombshell report on the University of Virginia without correcting what errors its editors believe were made."[30]

Emily Renda, the university's project coordinator for sexual misconduct, policy and prevention declared that "Rolling Stone played adjudicator, investigator and advocate and did a slipshod job at that."[31] Sociology professor W. Bradford Wilcox, meanwhile, tweeted that "I was wrong to give it [the Rolling Stone story] credence."[32]

Personal life

According to her website, Erdely lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two children. She has taught journalism classes at Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania.[33]

References

  1. ^ a b Middleton, Josh (2 April 2013). "Local Writer Nominated for ASME Award for Gay-Centric Story in Rolling Stone". Philadelphia Magazine. Philadelphia, PA. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  2. ^ Erdely, Sabrina (14 February 2013). "The Rape of Petty Officer Blumer". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  3. ^ Goldberg, Jonah (1 December 2014). "Rolling Stone rape story sends shock waves -- and stretches credulity". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, CA. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  4. ^ Sabrina Rubin Erdely," A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA", Rolling Stone, November 19, 2014, http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119, consulted 12/5/2014.
  5. ^ a b "Magazine's Account of Gang Rape on Virginia Campus Comes Under Scrutiny". New York Times. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  6. ^ McDonald, Michael (3 December 2014). "UVA Faculty Propose Extending Frat Ban Through School Year". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  7. ^ Downes, Colin. "Greek Gangs". Slate.
  8. ^ "UVA Fraternity House Vandalized". WVIR-TV. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.|url=http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/local/hundreds-protest-at-uva-student-says-memorial-to-victims-vandalized/article_81bc9d24-7379-11e4-a91e-f70a4bc5767c.html |newspaper=The Daily Progress |location= |accessdate=5 December 2014 }}
  9. ^ "The Governing Board of the Inter-Fraternity Council at UVa" (PDF). UVa Interfraternity Council. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  10. ^ http://www.richardbradley.net/shotsinthedark/2014/11/24/is-the-rolling-stone-story-true/
  11. ^ Shapiro, Rees (5 December 2014). "Key elements of Rolling Stone's U-Va. gang rape allegations in doubt". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  12. ^ Moynihan, Michael (4 December 2014). "Why It Was Right to Question Rolling Stone's UVA Rape Story". Daily Beast. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  13. ^ a b c Roslin, Hannah. "The Missing Men". Slate. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  14. ^ "Rolling Stone Never Interviewed UVA Frat Bros Accused of Gang Rape". Gawker. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  15. ^ "It matters how Rolling Stone reported its UVA rape story". poynter.org. Poynter Institute. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  16. ^ Shapiro, Rees (20 November 2014). "McAuliffe urges investigation at U-Va. after Rolling Stone depiction of sexual assault". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  17. ^ "Official Statement from the Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity at the University of Virginia". phikappapsi.com. Phi Kappa Psi. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  18. ^ "Who is Sabrina Rubin Erdely?". al.com. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  19. ^ Shapiro, Rees (5 December 2014). "Key elements of Rolling Stone's U-Va. gang rape allegations in doubt". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  20. ^ "A Note to Our Readers". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  21. ^ "Rolling Stone Backpedals On UVA Rape Story, Says 'Trust' in Victim Misplaced". NBC News. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  22. ^ "Rolling Stone just wrecked an incredible year of progress for rape victims". The Verge. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  23. ^ Schow, Ashe (3 December 2014). "If false, Rolling Stone story could set rape victims back decades". Washington Examiner. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  24. ^ "Like a Rolling Stone". Wall Street Journal. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  25. ^ Vargas-Cooper, Natasha (5 December 2014). "Hey, Feminist Internet Collective: Good Reporting Does Not Have To Be Sensitive". The Intercept. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  26. ^ Merlan, Anna (5 December 2014). "Rolling Stone backs off story of alleged fraternity rape at UVA". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  27. ^ Merlan, Anna (5 December 2014). "Rolling Stone Partially Retracts UVA Story Over 'Discrepancies'". Jezebel. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  28. ^ Goldberg, Jonah (5 December 2014). "Rolling Stone Crumbles". National Review. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  29. ^ "Civil, Criminal Lawsuits: Possible Outcomes of Rolling Stone Expose". WCAV-TV. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  30. ^ "UVA Anger Focused on Rolling Stone After Rape Story Discredited". Bloomberg. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  31. ^ "Advocates Fear Impact of Rolling Stone Apology". ABC News. 6 December 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  32. ^ "Rolling Stone Rolls Off Cliff". American Conservative. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  33. ^ "Sabrina Rubin Erdely - Biography". Sabrina Rubin Erdely. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
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