Media Critique

In the Rolling Stone last November, a journalist named Sabrina Rubin Erdely covered a news story describing a gang rape by a fraternity at the University Of Virginia. The article contained detailed descriptions of the rape from the victim, yet she refused to answer specific questions of the encounter. This one article had a major impact on the university. All fraternities were investigated and put on suspension because of the incident. The article drew a lot of attention to other rape stories and rape awareness at the university. 

In December of the same year, the Washington post released an article on the same incident with a totally different turnout. After the victim refused to talk to the reporters, they interviewed witnesses of the encounter and talked to the fraternities. The Washington Post had enough evidence to prove the victim did not get gang raped at a fraternity party. 

The Rolling Stone article is an example bad journalism. The only material Erdely had for her report was what the victim had told her. This is bad journalism because the article was one-sided, failing to look at the bigger picture and investigate other areas of the event. You never heard from the fraternity's perspective of what happened, and there was no specific evidence the incident as well. Her story was proven invalid by the Washington Post, consisting of a group of journalists that dug deeper into the story and found evidence against Erdely's claim. 

People rely on journalism to report truthful news. The University Of Virginia trusted the Rolling Stone article and applied it to their campus. After all the trouble, the article ended up being proven invalid by the Washington Post. Bad journalism doesn't just effect how people view an event, but it also effects lives as well. Innocent fraternities were suspended. The University Of Virginia was given a bad reputation. Erdely should have known she had to back up her claim before publishing the report. 

It is important to report a story from an unbiased standpoint, and to have various sources from different perspectives that back up your claim. An event that was misinterpreted caused chaos. It cast on future victims of rape. Prosecutors may be less likely to pursue these cases because of previous false allegations such as this. Not only has the Rolling Stone's false report effected the lives of people at the university, but future rape victims and reports as well.