Rolling Stone Magazine forced to retract discredited rape story

Rolling Stone magazine retracted a widely discredited article about an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia after a top journalism school issued a scathing report concluding that it had failed to meet proper journalistic standards.

The review, undertaken at Rolling Stone’s request, presented a broad indictment of the magazine’s handling of a story that horrified readers and sparked a national discussion about sexual assaults on college campuses.

The way the magazine reported, edited, and vetted the article is a “story of journalistic failure that was avoidable”, the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism said in the report.