The writer of the fake Rolling Stone magazine 12,000-word feature describing a gang rape at the University of Virginia was not terminated.  Nor was her editor.  This non-action came in the wake of an investigation by the Columbia School of Journalism, publicized by the Washington Post.

How can that be?  To a person who consumes journalism, the result is baffling.  To the press involved in the whitewash, it's standard operating procedure.  The media are no longer honest brokers between conflicting opinions.  Instead, they are (with some exceptions) willing participants in the conspiracy to discredit anyone who does not conform to the politically correct view of society.  Consequently, Rolling Stone was absolved by its colleagues for the journalistic crime committed, and, for show, slapped on the  wrist for petty misdemeanors.

Feminist activists think the alleged gang rape could have happened somewhere, so it was okay to publish a totally fabricated story in order to make the larger point that college men are sexually assaulting female students – although there is no evidence to support the allegations.  This sorry state of affairs – with allegedly victimized groups making unfounded accusations – could not exist without a participatory and delusional media.  If you are aware that liberal arts majors today are void of general knowledge, you might not realize that journalism school graduates are worse – they see themselves as the vanguard elite endowed to force radical opinions and vacuous reality  on the public.

The founding event that ushered in the new J-school regime was the Janet Cooke scandal at the Washington Post in 1980.  Cooke, an attractive black female, was an affirmative action dream come true for the Post.  She was promoted on a fast track, with little time to hone her reporting skills.  Her editor in the Features Department was journalism rock star Bob Woodward, he of Watergate fame – at least  as he self-promoted in his book All The President's Men, later a major motion picture, starring Robert Redford as Woodward.  Back then, Woodward and his red diaper baby partner, Carl Bernstein, had not been exposed by scholars as poseurs.  The two mediocre reporters claimed credit for bringing down Richard  Nixon, when actually they were shills for Deep Throat – i.e., Mark Felt, associate director of the FBI.  Go to www.washingtondecoded.com to see investigator Max Holland's research and books on Woodward, Bernstein, and Felt.

Cooke pitched her boss Woodward to write a feature profile on "Little Jimmy," an 8-year-old heroin addict and dealer in the seedy part of D.C.  Woodward was so enamored with Cooke's feature that he convinced the Pulitzer committee to create a new category for Cooke's efforts.  Cooke indeed won her Pulitzer Prize, and all was happy in the in the land.

But it turns out that there was no "Little Jimmy."  The entire story was made up by Cooke, discovered by examining her resume, which contained serious misrepresentations.  She had to return the Pulitzer.  Woodward was not stained, but Cooke maintains to this day what has become the mantra of political advocacy journalism.  Cooke told reporters she was sorry she had to make up the story.  However, she maintains she did something worthwhile, because heroin was a problem in the black sections of Washington.  It made no difference if Jimmy was real or not.

I wager that the Rolling Stone writer, who ravished the reputation of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and the University of Virginia, feels the same.