According to The New York Times, Will Dana, the managing editor who oversaw Rolling Stone’s trumped up UVA gang rape story, is leaving the magazine.
Dana began his tenure at Rolling Stone in 1996, and after almost 20 years at the magazine he has decided that "it is time to move on," telling the Times:
It has been a great ride and I loved it even more than I imagined I would…I am as excited to see where the magazine goes next as I was in the summer of 1978 when I bought my first issue.
Dana had been criticized after the publication of writer Sabrina Erdely's "A Rape on Campus," story, and his response, or lack thereof, when additional reporting from various outlets confirmed that almost every detail of the story was false. Erdely's now-debunked article detailed the supposed sexual assault of a UVA freshman, only known as "Jackie," who had been repeatedly gang raped at a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house in 2012.
After the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism conducted an independent review of the article, they deemed it a "journalistic failure." What's more, after investigating the matter, local police found no evidence of a crime.
It was astounding to many observers when Dana, Erdely, and Rolling Stone deputy editor Sean Woods weren’t fired or at least suspended from the magazine when the Columbia review findings were released. For his part, Dana audaciously implied that the release of the review and its detailed examination of the magazine's many failures were punishment enough.
Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner insisted to the New York Times that "many factors go into a decision like this," when asked what provoked Dana to leave Rolling Stone.
It is worth noting that no one has been named as Dana’s replacement, and that the disgraced editor doesn't appear to have a new job lined up. His departure came shortly after news broke about three former University of Virginia students who filed a defamation lawsuit against the magazine and Ms. Erdely.
