Rolling Stone magazine requests audit of discredited gang rape story

[December 23, 2014]  (Reuters) - Rolling Stone magazine has asked Columbia University's journalism school to investigate a discredited article it ran in November alleging gang rape at a campus fraternity, the New York-based school said.

In a rare move for a publisher, the music magazine will get the journalism school to produce an independent review of how it handled the story, which it said showed editorial missteps and discrepancies.

"Rolling Stone has agreed to publish our report in its entirety, without editing, on its website, as well as substantial excerpts in the magazine," Columbia Journalism School said in a statement.

The roughly 9,000-word article described a 2012 alleged attack on a woman at a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house pledge party and the University of Virginia's failure to respond. The university suspended fraternity activities after the article was published.

The article provoked uproar at the Virginia college and renewed concerns about campus sexual assault, but elements of the reporting have been scrutinized and criticized in the media.

Rolling Stone said on Dec. 5 its trust in the accuser, identified only as Jackie, had been misplaced. It subsequently revised that statement, saying the problems were not the fault of the alleged victim.

The magazine has asked Columbia University to review the "editorial process that led to the publication of this story," publisher Jann Wenner said in a note to be contained in the next issue of Rolling Stone, according to U.S. media reports.

Rolling Stone did not immediately responded to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

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