Friday, December 5, 2014

Rolling Stone rolls over on their story

For those of you who haven't heard the news, Rolling Stone printed an article last month claiming that a woman was brutally gang raped at a fraternity at the University of Virginia.  There was no police report, the author of the article made no effort to track down any of the alleged rapists, and there was little to no corroborating evidence.  In spite of that many who suggested that maybe some questions would be in order were accused of being rape apologists.

Today Rolling Stone printed a retraction on-line.

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/a-note-to-our-readers-20141205#ixzz3L4PVqKWk

Rolling Stone has a circulation of a couple million, plus add on the number of people who don't subscribe but still read it.

I wonder how many people read the on-line retractions.  The damage is done.  Much like the Duke lacrosse false accusations, most people will believe this actually happened.

I also wonder what chance there is that the accuser will face any legal liability for slander.  Presumably slim to none since false rape accusers rarely do.

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