The press's reluctance to let go of a popular but debunked meme — in this case, the nonexistent "epidemic" of college campus sexual assaults — is sometimes inadvertently humorous, though still intensely annoying.
Take how John Bacon and Marisol Bello at USA Today characterized the news that "Police in Charlottesville were unable to verify that an alleged sexual assault detailed in a controversial Rolling Stone magazine article ever took place at the University of Virginia":
Police unable to verify 'Rolling Stone' rape story
... The story, "A Rape on Campus," detailed a female student's gruesome tale of a three-hour gang rape by seven men at a fraternity house in 2012. Days after it was published in November 2014, university president Teresa Sullivan suspended all fraternity activities on campus.
But the story didn't quite hold up. The Washington Post was first to find discrepancies. Then the magazine published an apology, saying it also found flaws and had lost faith in the piece -- days after author Sabrina Rubin Erdely defended the reporting.
... "We are unable to conclude to any substantive degree that an incident consistent with the act contained in that article occurred at the Phi Kappa Psi house -- or any other house," Longo said. But he added that the results of the investigation do not mean that "something terrible didn't happen to Jackie."
Longo said more than 70 interviews were conducted, and that the investigation was suspended but not closed.
"I can't prove that something didn't happen," he said. "It's a disservice to Jackie and the university to just close this in case" because more information could become available.
The story roiled U.Va., campus fraternities and the magazine in a complicated controversy.
"Didn't quite hold up"?(!)
The police appear to have found no corroborating evidence of any kind. This is like claiming that a football team on its own 20 yard line which just ran a play for no gain "didn't quite" score a touchdown.
The USA Today reporters still want readers to believe that some good came out of all of this:
The article has led to soul-searching about rapes on campus and efforts to stop the crimes. The university reinstated Phi Kappa Psi after the Greek organization agreed to new rules about parties: No kegs, security workers are required and at least three fraternity members must be sober. The school is also considering new courses to teach students safety and a center to research violence.
The fact is that the article gave aid and comfort to those who want to eliminate due process in alleged campus sexual assault cases.
The police investigation's politically correct but substantively damning "unable to verify" finding resulted from an agenda-driven, poorly researched article by a publication whose motto is "All the news that fits."
All of this should give pause to those who want to establish tyrannical star chambers that ruin peoples' lives on the nation's university campuses. Will it?
USAT's Marisol Bello was last seen at NewsBusters defending fabulist suspended NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams from "seething reactions" (otherwise known as "truth-seekers").
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
