The Lesson From Rolling Stone

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By: Doug Bedell

What can be said about the debacle at Rolling Stone over its now withdrawn story, “A Rape on Campus,” and the Columbia Journalism School’s critique of the fulsome piece? Due process and procedures are everything in journalism, and PR as well. Don’t ever shortcut them.

As it happens, Amazon is promoting a new book, Informing the News, by Thomas E. Patterson. Underwritten by the Carnegie Corporation and the Knight Foundation, it apparently holds that today’s journalists aren’t providing trustworthy news. Let the vendor beware.

Was this a firing offense for those involved at Rolling Stone. They don't think so, but CJR's Jill Geisler thinks more leadership is needed there.

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About the Author

Doug Bedell has a background in journalism and PR and is the owner of Resource Relations LLC in Central PA, focusing on organizational and crisis communication. He’s the community manager of SimplyFair.net, a social network on fairness. On the Web, Doug’s at www.ResourceRelations.com. On Twitter, he’s @DougBeetle.

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