WASHINGTON (AP) — Rolling Stone has clarified its apology over a story that had reported a female student was gang-raped at a University of Virginia fraternity, telling readers the mistakes were the magazine's fault, not the alleged victim's.
That's a shift from the original note to readers, issued Friday, when it said of Jackie, the woman who claimed to have been gang-raped at a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, "Our trust in her was misplaced." The updated note removes that line, which struck some critics as blaming the victim.
The magazine says that it shouldn't have agreed to Jackie's request not to contact the alleged assailants to get their side of the story, out of sensitivity to her. Managing editor, Will Dana writes: "These mistakes are on Rolling Stone, not on Jackie." He adds and apology "to anyone who was affected by the story" and says Rolling Stone "will continue to investigate the events of that evening."
