Covering Phi Kappa Psi's reinstatement at UVa., MSNBC.com's Irin Carmon steadfastly refused to describe the Rolling Stone story which dragged the fraternity through the mud as a "discredited" story.
Although Charlottesville police investigated and found no evidence whatsoever to substantiate that a gang rape occurred in the Phi Kappa Psi house back in September 2012, as alleged in Sabrina Rubin Erdeley's story, Carmon describes Erdeley's article as merely "disputed" in points of fact rather than thoroughly "discredited" (emphasis mine):
With a green light from the Charlottesville Police Department, the University of Virginia has reinstated Phi Kappa Psi, the fraternity named in a disputed Rolling Stone article as the site of an alleged gang rape. That fraternity, like all others at the university, will abide by new rules intended to prevent sexual assault.
The university said in a press release Monday that the decision was made “after consultation with Charlottesville Police Department officials, who told the University that their investigation has not revealed any substantive basis to confirm that the allegations raised in the Rolling Stone article occurred at Phi Kappa Psi.”
The investigation has not yet concluded, and the police have said little about its progress. News organizations, including The Washington Post, have raised questions about the accuracy of the magazine’s reporting, with several key parties saying they had not been contacted by Rolling Stone and disputing its account. In December, two Columbia Journalism School deans said they had agreed, at Rolling Stone’s request, to conduct an ”independent review of the reporting and editorial decision making that led to the publication of its recent story on sexual violence at the University of Virginia.”
While it is true that an independent investigation is ongoing, we do know that
a) Psi Kappa Phi did NOT have a social function at its house the night Erdeley alleges in her Rolling Stone story.
b) Contrary to the allegation of "Jackie" in the Rolling Stone story, no member of Psi Kappa Phi was employed at the University of Virginia's Aquatic and Fitness center.
c) The name of one of Jackie's alleged rapists - Haven Monahan -- appears to be a complete fabrication. Everything about him seems to be made up out of thin air, including his phone number (via Reason.com; emphasis mine):
We now know the "real" given name of Jackie's date on the evening of her alleged rape, September 28, 2012: Haven Monahan. Jackie claimed that Monahan was an older student who had taken an interest in her. Prior to September 28th, Duffin, Stock, and Hendley had pressed Jackie for details about this mysterious love interest. She gave them several different cell phone numbers for Monahan, and they corresponded with him. He eventually sent a picture of himself. Many of his messages contained not-so-subtle hints that Jackie had (unrequited) feelings for Duffin.
We now know that no one named Haven Monahan attended UVA. The phone numbers aren't even real—they redirect back to an internet service that allows people to send texts without having actual phone numbers. And the picture is of a former high school acquaintance of Jackie's who never attended UVA and spent no time in Charlottesville that year.
This strongly implies, of course, that Jackie sent the messages herself. The Daily Caller's Chuck Ross has gathered compelling evidence—including an interview with Duffin himself—that Jackie may have been trying to make Duffin sympathetic to her or develop feelings for her.
