I think Anna Merlan's greatest hit was the time she wrote "'IS THE UVA RAPE STORY A GIGANTIC HOAX?' ASKS IDIOT" attacking Robby Soave of Reason. He responded defending himself in the comments and then she unleashed this gem:
"Hi Robby! Thanks for stopping by! One small correction: I don't think you've ever "reported" a goddamn thing in your life. (And because I know you're going to do this, either here or in my Twitter mentions, which you and your friends are currently stink-clouding up with your Feelings, I have a master's degree in journalism from Columbia and I write investigative stories. Have done for years, both at Jezebel and before I got here. Thanks for asking!)
Instead, I think, as I made clear above, that you're piggy-backing on the work of other people who are calling Erdely's story into question without a single shred of evidence. You don't get brownie points for saying IF the story is true THEN UVA should have called the cops. That's what any decent human being would suggest.
But by all means, do some journalism! Follow up on those leads! Let's see it! Can't wait!"
I think Anna Merlan's greatest hit was the time she wrote "'IS THE UVA RAPE STORY A GIGANTIC HOAX?' ASKS IDIOT" attacking Robby Soave of Reason. He responded defending himself in the comments and then she unleashed this gem:
"Hi Robby! Thanks for stopping by! One small correction: I don't think you've ever "reported" a goddamn thing in your life. (And because I know you're going to do this, either here or in my Twitter mentions, which you and your friends are currently stink-clouding up with your Feelings, I have a master's degree in journalism from Columbia and I write investigative stories. Have done for years, both at Jezebel and before I got here. Thanks for asking!)
Instead, I think, as I made clear above, that you're piggy-backing on the work of other people who are calling Erdely's story into question without a single shred of evidence. You don't get brownie points for saying IF the story is true THEN UVA should have called the cops. That's what any decent human being would suggest.
But by all means, do some journalism! Follow up on those leads! Let's see it! Can't wait!"
4 days later, Rolling Stone retracted the story.