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Abstract: 

Elias v. Rolling Stone, LLC, 872 F.3d 97 (2d Cir. 2017) is a defamation action arising from a now-retracted magazine article written by the defendant, Sabrina Rubin Ederly, which was published in the magazine Rolling Stone. The article was entitled, “A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA.” The action also arose out of a podcast in which Ederly discussed the article. Three fraternity members sued Ederly, Rolling Stone LLC, and Wenner Media LLC (the media company of the co-founder and publisher of Rolling Stone, Jann Wenner). The plaintiffs alleged that the article and podcast defamed them by identifying them individually as participants in Jackie’s alleged rape and by identifying them collectively as members of a group of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity brothers at the time of the alleged rape. Because the article and podcast did not specifically name any of the plaintiffs, the issue for the court was whether the article and podcast contained enough information for it to be said that they were “of and concerning [the] plaintiffs.” The court acknowledged that this was a close case but held that Elias and Fowler had pleaded sufficient facts to show that the article referred to them. We examine the facts and draw conclusions from the decision that may apply to future media coverage of campus conduct.

Keywords: Phi Kappa Psi; Rolling Stone Magazine; Sabrina Ederly

Affiliations:  1: Editor; 2: Editor.