Rolling Stone’s UVA Rape Story Review Will Be ‘Damning’

The independent analysis of Rolling Stone’s embattled “A Rape on Campus” story reportedly submitted; set for publication in a few weeks

Rolling Stone's "Rape on Campus" article
Rolling Stone

The independent review of Rolling Stone’s “A Rape on Campus” story will be long and “damning” to the magazine.

Politico’s Dylan Byers reports that the analysis, written by Columbia Journalism Review’s Steve Coll, is longer than the original 9,000-word story written by Sabrina Rubin Erdely.

It will also provide “a blunt indictment of Rolling Stone’s reporting and its violation of journalism ethics,” according to Byers.

On Sunday, Rolling Stone managing editor Will Dana said the review would be published in a few weeks. On Monday, Charlottesville Police announced the suspension of their investigation into the alleged 2012 rape at a University of Virginia fraternity party on which the story was based, having found no evidence it occurred.

“I can’t prove that something didn’t happen, and there may come a point in time in which this survivor, or this complaining party or someone else, may come forward with some information that might help us move this investigation further,” Police Chief Timothy Longo told reporters.

The police department interviewed Erdely, whom they called “cooperative as best as she could be,” and who provided them with unpublished information.

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