Sabrina Erdley Rolling Stone crime was not her first.

I understand that the liar "Jackie" at the center of the retracted story of Sabrin Erdley has been ordered to appear in court and be deposed for the Defamation against Rolling Stone magazine by Nicole Eramo, an associate dean at the University of Virginia.

It now appears that this was not the first time that Sabina Erdley wrote a salacious sex story based on little more than lies by a highly questionable source.  Sadly the legal outcome was not very good even though it shed a fair amount of doubt on the prime subject in the case.

The question has to be asked why journalism - especially "progressive" journalism - is so vulnerable to these kinds of frauds.    In the comments someone brought to light the similarity to Stephen Glass - a New Republic wunderkind journalist who was unmasked as an breathtaking fraud in 1998.  

Here was an interview with him on CBS 60 Minutes explaining his modus operndi and he became more and more entwined in his crime.

'60 Minutes' (CBS, Season 35, Episode 37) from Larry Knight on Vimeo.

And finally here is a recent article that points out he is still trying to undo that damage 16 years later.

Rebel Media is 1yr Old Today

This marks the 1 year Anniversary of Ezra Levants Rebel.Mediahttp://www.therebel.media/ - and what a year it has been!

The most surprising development - that was in a way a Birthday Gift to Rebel.Media - was the NDP Government's attempt to ban Rebel.Media Reporters Shelia Gunn-Reid and Holly Nicholas from Government Press Conferences! 



In this video Ezra describes that even the NDP learned how it has stepped in a hornets nest of opprobrium over an obvious attempt to muzzle the press - especially when it is a strong critic of the Government. The NDP backed down and have appointed an "advisor" on the matter.  Ezra points out this does  notmean the end of the matter as he suspects it is just an attempt to outsource criticism to a  sympatetic third-party - who in the end comes back with exactly the same result.  Only time will tell.

But perhaps the most surprising aspect of this news story was the contribution of OTHER Media outlets - many of which have never been particularlly kind to Rebel.Media or its predecessor Sun News Network.

Finally, Rebel.Media has grown and deserves to be congratulated for its sucess - despite news that Brain Lilley is moving on somewhat to CFRA580 Talk Radio in Ottawa.

Last year Rebel.Media YouTube Channel had only 1,885 subscribers with 85,000 page views - today it has over 86,000 and 25+ million page views.  That is something to be proud of - and I think this project is going to continue to grow - as the traditional media shrinks.