Kurtz: ‘Liberal’ RS ‘Wanted a Sensational Sexual Assault Story’

Fox News Media Analyst and host of “MediaBuzz” Howard Kurtz said that Rolling Stone’s story about an alleged sexual assault on the University of Virginia’s campus “amounts to journalistic malpractice” and that he believed that part of the motive for the story was “a liberal magazine…wanted a sensational sexual assault story” on Monday’s “Kelly File” on the Fox News Channel.

“This story, Megyn, is so riddled with errors and missteps and now a bungled apology and there’s even question that whether Jackie, the accuser, knew which fraternity she was accusing of being the host for this alleged attack, that just amounts to journalistic malpractice…but there’s also the question of agenda-driven journalism here,” to which he added “no secret it’s [Rolling Stone] a liberal magazine it wanted a sensational sexual assault story.” Kurtz further pointed to an address by Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will Dana that defended biased reporting.

Regarding the larger issue of reporting on sexual assault cases, he argued “it is hard to take on one of these cases because you can be accused of being sexist, misogynist, insensitive to these kinds of issues.” Kurtz also blasted arguments that the truthfulness of the specific claims made in Rolling Stone’s article was irrelevant because it is known that campus sexual assault is an epidemic were “complete garbage” that “makes me mad.” 

He concluded by blasting Rolling Stone, pointing to numerous red flags that were “waved away,” and an earlier article by Sabrina Erdely, the author of the UVA rape story that he argued needlessly dragged Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) into a story on suicides by gay teenagers and showcased a “blatant political agenda.”

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