Less than a day after Rolling Stone retracted its article that vividly depicted a woman being sexually assaulted by members of a fraternity at the University of Virginia, members of the Syracuse University community reacted to the fallout of the decision for all parties involved.

Rolling Stone’s article, “A Rape on Campus,” detailed the case of a young woman at UVA who was sexually assaulted at a fraternity party. The piece was published in November 2014 and quickly came under scrutiny for inaccuracies and its lack of sourcing in key areas. The magazine then asked the dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism to look into its reporting and editing process with the piece, the results of which were released Sunday night.

Following the report’s publication, Rolling Stone retracted the article. In the aftermath of the decision, experts weighed in on what it means for journalism, specifically for Rolling Stone, and what it means for survivors of sexual assault after the victim in the story had her account of events proven largely false.

Jill Sneider, the sexual and relationship violence prevention coordinator in the Office of Health Promotion, said her initial reaction to the story was concern for the young woman at the center of it. However, after the report was released Sunday, her concern shifted to survivors of sexual assault.

“I think that it’s hard enough for someone to seek support, and to hear such a backlash about it can really make (seeking support) feel less safe for someone,” she said.

She added that all the attention surrounding the article, and its retraction, shows just how much the issue of sexual assault on college campuses has come to the forefront over the past year. The way colleges handle cases of sexual assault is an issue larger than the one woman featured in the Rolling Stone piece, she said.

One of the few positive takeaways Sneider said she sees coming from the discussion surrounding the article is the way that publicity can spark conversations about the issue of sexual assault. For example, she said at SU specifically, there have been conversations during the past year about sexual assault support services on campus.

“There is a positive to the publicity because students are taking these issues more seriously and getting involved in the prevention side of things,” she said.

In addition to positives from a services standpoint, there are positives that can be taken away from the Rolling Stone debacle from a journalism perspective, said David Rubin, dean emeritus of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

There are a few main lessons to be learned from the article and its retraction, he said. The first is to be careful of single source stories, particularly when they’re about a controversial subject. In addition, he said that Rolling Stone made mistakes in the fact-checking process.

Long term, Rubin said the mistakes made in this particular story shouldn’t discourage journalists from looking into complicated stories. However, it should make journalists carefully consider the way they treat each story when reporting on issues such as sexual assault on college campuses.

“If it encourages journalists to take every case on its own and without prejudice, then that will be a useful development,” he said.

Published on April 7, 2015 at 12:05 am

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