Sabrina Rubin Erdely, who wrote the now-retracted Rolling Stone article about a brutal gang-rape at the University of Virginia has officially apologized.
“I want to offer my deepest apologies: to Rolling Stone’s readers, to my Rolling Stone editors and colleagues, to the U.Va. community, and to any victims of sexual assault who may feel fearful as a result of my article,” Erdely wrote in a statement published in the New York Times.
Erdely put the blame on her reliance on Jackie as the sole source of the article, saying that her compassion got the best of her and kept her from verifying the story. She vowed not to make the same mistake again.
“Reporting on rape has unique challenges, but the journalist still has the responsibility to get it right,” Erdely said. “I hope that my mistakes in reporting this story do not silence the voices of victims that need to be heard.”
Neither Erdely nor any of her editors will be fired as a result of the rather egregious failures of accuracy and journalistic standards that went into the original piece.
