A federal court jury found that the magazine Rolling Stone and reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely defamed Nicole Eramo, a University of Virginia dean who oversaw sexual assault cases at the school. Significantly, the jury also decided that the magazine and Erdely had acted "with actual malice" which will probably lead to significantly more damages awarded than the $7.5 million Eramo was asking for. The saga associated with the article, "A Rape on Campus," centers on the tale told by "Jackie," a supposed victim of a fraternity gang rape. The horrific details shocked America when the article was first published in November 2014. It galvanized sexual assault activists on campus across the country and fed the narrative that sexual assault was at epidemic proprortions on America's college campuses. But within days of the article's publication, Jackie's story began to fall apart. The Washington Post wrote an investigative piece that...(Read Full Post)