Investigative blogger Charles C. Johnson discusses his own research into the author of the Rolling Stone rape story that was later retracted by the magazine due to multiple inaccuracies that were discovered in the article.
“In this particular case with Sabrina Rubin Erdely – who was the author of this Rolling Stone piece – it appears she was trusting a young lady, Jackie Coakley, who essentially made up a very vicious claim of gang rape,” Johnson said. “She was actually reprimanded by Stephen Glass many years ago for making up a story, which is kind of an interesting, ironic side note.”
Stephen Glass was a disgraced former journalist who was found to have fabricated many sources and articles while writing for The New Republic. “She was actually reprimanded by Stephen Glass many years ago for making up a story, which is kind of an interesting, ironic side note, Johnson said.
“She claims in the interview that she has a very good BS detector, but her general inclination is to believe a source who is telling her something, Johnson said, noting that Erdely wrote or a lot of women’s magazines, alternative newspapers, and publications with a reputation for being left-wing.
“Often times they don’t really report the truth, they sort of report of kind of truthiness about things. They want to advance a certain agenda, present a certain picture of the universe.”
But Johnson denies that any of his criticism of Erdely was unfair or that it focused too much on her alleged political agenda. “My contempt for the media is bi-partisan and non-partisan – it’s more towards people who are pushing agendas.”
Watch the full episode to also hear Johnson discuss his decision to identify the anonymous source of the Rolling Stone rape article, who was referenced only as “Jackie.”
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