On the topic of the reachability of these friends, Rolling Stone commits perhaps the most self-damaging parenthetical in the history of journalistic self-assessment. It comes from the magazine’s “note to readers”: “A friend of Jackie’s (who we were told would not speak to Rolling Stone) told the Washington Post that he found Jackie that night a mile from the school’s fraternities.” Bold text added to highlight an un-get-pastable problem: Rolling Stone is in possession of a gang-rape allegation that includes a broken glass table, seven assailants and penetration with a bottle. Not only does it not have an official complaint, it has agreed not to contact the accused AND it has apparently accepted the affirmation of some interested party that a pivotal source isn’t really up for an interview.
Where is that an acceptable excuse?
The Erik Wemple Blog has asked Rolling Stone whether the parenthetical means that the magazine didn’t even try to find this person and whether it’s standard practice to let others speak for a source’s willingness to cooperate. (It’s possible that it refers only to Rolling Stone’s efforts to reach this person after “A Rape on Campus” was published). Also: Who was it that told the magazine that the friend wouldn’t talk?
Rolling Stone spokeswoman Melissa Bruno responds, “We decline to comment further at this time.”
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