UVA/ROLLING STONE

Rolling Stone revises apology on UVA rape story (The Associated Press)

WASHINGTON –  Rolling Stone has clarified its apology over a story that had reported a female student was gang-raped at a University of Virginia fraternity, telling readers the mistakes were the magazine's fault, not the alleged victim's.

That's a shift from the original note to readers, issued Friday, when it said of Jackie, the woman who claimed to have been gang-raped at a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, "Our trust in her was misplaced." The updated note removes that line, which struck some critics as blaming the victim.

The magazine said that it shouldn't have agreed to Jackie's request not to contact the alleged assailants to get their side of the story, out of sensitivity to her. "These mistakes are on Rolling Stone, not on Jackie," wrote the magazine's managing editor, Will Dana. "We apologize to anyone who was affected by the story and we will continue to investigate the events of that evening." The decision not to contact the alleged rapists prompted criticism from other news organizations.