A U.S. federal jury found on Tuesday that Rolling Stone magazine defamed a University of Virginia administrator in a discredited story about gang rape at a fraternity house on campus.
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Jurors awarded Nicole Eramo US$3 million for her portrayal in the article, while she was seeking US$7.5 million. The magazine's publisher and the reporter, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, were also found liable.
In the story, entitled "A Rape on Campus," a woman identified only as “Jackie” claimed that she had been brutally beaten and raped by seven men inside a fraternity and Eramo said that she was "the chief villain of the story."
The article, published in November 2014, describes Eramo as someone who discouraged Jackie from going to the police. However, a police investigation found no evidence to back up the woman's rape claims.
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“I just wanted to disappear,” said Eramo, who cried throughout much of her testimony. “I didn’t know how it was going to be O.K.”
The defense team for the magazine said in a statement that they accepted having committed "journalistic mistakes" in an attempt to "present this complicated issue from the perspective of a survivor."
Rolling Stone is also still facing a US$25 million lawsuit from Phi Kappa Psi, the fraternity in question in the piece.