The Columbia Journalism Review, an American magazine for professional journalists published bimonthly by Columbia University, released their annual list of just a few of the many mistakes and errors committed by those leading our news and media agenda.
At the top of their list was the Rolling Stone article about rape on college campuses written by Reporter Sabrina Erdely.
In her article, Erdely wrote about a University of Virginia student named "Jackie" who was allegedly gang raped, but after the article was published, inconsistencies began to appear. These inconsistencies were a result of Erdelys lack of fact checking with any of Jackies alleged rapist.
In the words of the CJR, the story was so intrusive and interesting it was "the type of story only Rolling Stone was capable of telling, one that could change the national conversation around contemporary sexual culture."
Three of Jackie's friends who were interviewed for the article were portrayed as being "unsympathetic."
After The Washington Post spoke with the three friends, they found out that Jackie's rape story and the events that happened did not match the other three sources, along with many other factual errors and important details that proved to be false.
After their story was debunked, Rolling Stone released a statement saying: "In the face of new information, there now appear to be discrepancies in Jackie's account, and we have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced."
According to CJR, Rolling Stone deserves a DART for blaming their errors on the source, and not their lack of fact-checking.
The CJR had many DARTS for CNN's Don Lemon; He asked guests whether Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 could have been swallowed by a black hole.
"I know it's preposterous, but is it preposterous?" Lemon said, on live television.
Lemon has also placed hitting children and dog training side by side in comparison, and discussed whether the release of United States Prisoner of War Bowe Bergdahl and Showtime series "Homeland" were related.
Then, on Nov. 18, when an alleged Bill Cosby rape victim appeared on his show, he made this comment: "You know, there are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn't want to do it...Meaning the use of teeth, right?"
Only a week later, Lemon lessened the political movement and protests in Ferguson, Missouri, to a bunch of pot-smoking hippies when he made the comment: "Obviously, there's a smell of marijuana in the air."
CBS's 60 minutes were also given a DART for their special segment called "The Ebola Hot Zone" for only interviewing Americans.
Reporter Lara Logan went to ebola-stricken Liberia, but only managed to interview Americans when she visited an American-run treatment center, spoke to one American nurse and four American doctors.
The last DART on the CJR list for the worst journalist in 2014 was Breitbart News for their entirely wrong story on the "outing" of attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch as one of Bill Clinton's attorney's during the Whitewater corruption probe.
Breitbart News not only "outed" the wrong Loretta Lynch, making the entire story factually incorrect from the beginning, but they also did not retract or remove the story after the mistake was found and made public.
Breitbart thought it sufficient to place a small correction at the end of the original story, as if the story itself hadn't been completely discredited, until thousands of shares online led to them removing the story in its entirety, leaving no trace they had done wrong.
