Newly Hired Indianapolis Sports Columnist Resigns Over Resume [more NY Times liars exposed]

Associated Press ^ | Jan 9, 2004 | Drew Lawrence

[Pharmboy]

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A sportswriter who left his job at The New York Times to become a sports columnist for The Indianapolis Star admitted he falsified his resume and resigned his new post Friday. Star Editor and Vice President Dennis R. Ryerson announced he had accepted Mike Freeman's resignation in an item headlined "note to readers" that was posted on the newspaper's Web site.

In a statement included in the Star's note, Freeman said he knowingly stated on his resume and in an interview for the job that he was a graduate of the University of Delaware. Freeman's statement said he had attended for four years, but did not graduate.

"It was the only time I have told such falsehoods and no other deceptions have ever appeared in any of my newspaper stories or two books at any time in my 16 years of practicing journalism," the statement said. "Nevertheless, the information I gave the Star was wrong and I will be punished with the loss of my newspaper career."

The Star's Web story did not indicate how the paper learned of the falsification. The Associated Press left a phone message after business hours for Ryerson. Freeman could not immediately be reached for comment. There is no phone listing for him in the Indianapolis area.

"The Star is committed to operating with high ethical standards," Ryerson said.

Freeman, 37, had been a sports reporter for the past 10 years at the Times, where he covered the NBA and NFL. He previously worked at The Dallas Morning News, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post.

Freeman was to have started his new position Monday.

AP-ES-01-09-04 2043EST

Copyright 2003 Associated Press

[Pharmboy]

I have read Freeman for years. Wow...let's see if the Times reports this.

[Pharmboy]

Ping

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[stylin19a]

geez.......then what kind of resume did he give the Times ?

[Pharmboy]

Good question...and how many more lies did he tell the Indy paper? And how many more were in his stories?

[Diogenesis]

LOL. No wonder the New York Times never has had interest in resume fraud.
Resume fraud extends throughout the New York Times masthead.

[SamAdams76]

Why would a college degree be so important to be a damn sports columnist? I could write a better sports column than half those hacks and I don't even follow sports that much (except maybe NFL football)>

[Timesink]

Why would a journalist leave The New York Times to move to Indianapolis in the first place? This doesn't sound like it was a step up. I'd like to know why he left The Times in the first place.

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[WL-law]

Jayson Blair also went to U of Delaware, I believe, and also lied about his status as graduate. Weird.

[Samwise]

Here it is:

http://www.indystar.com/articles/1/109943-7101-092.html

[Timesink]

Why would a college degree be so important to be a damn sports columnist?

It's not. Most papers (hell, most employers across the board) just put the "requirement" in there to be elitist and/or to reduce the number of applicants. Fewer incoming resumes = fewer resumes to have to pore over. Plain old laziness.

But having written for The Times should have easily trumped any lack of a degree, especially if he put in most of the college time anyway. Freeman's problem is that he lied about it.

[stands2reason]

Hey now, Indianapolis is a world-class city...

(sputter--gurgle--snicker--cough)

[Criminal Number 18F]

Why would a college degree be so important to be a damn sports columnist?

It isn't, but lying about it is important.

Maybe the Indy paper did what all employers should do and checked resume facts. That would bring this kind of fraud to a complete halt.

I suspect that Freeman learned in the culture of the Times that the truth isn't important. They're still running stories cut to fit the DNC party line, weaving and twisting with its changes. They're still featuring phony Charlie LeDuff after LeDuff has been exposed as a serial plaigiarist. He put someone else's story on Page 1 and they sloughed it off with a near-agate "correction" buried inside. They're still hanging on to Walter Duranty's Pulitzer, awarded for fabricated stories (that may not even have been fabricated by Duranty himself, but by his NKVD handlers). They're still standing by Iraq stories that have been exposed as fabrications.

They were reluctant to cut Blair and Bragg loose, even as both were exposed as plaigiarists. Integrity is clearly a foreign concept in Times Square.

But when you think about it, why wouldn't liberal journalists overlook resume fraud? Hey, if you stand for nothing, as do these papers, you'll fall for anything.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[JohnnyZ]

Jayson Blair also went to U of Delaware, I believe, and also lied about his status as graduate. Weird.

It is weird. I mean, it's frickin U Delaware. It's not like you have to study or go to class in order to get A's. Maybe this guy had an overdue book and they wouldn't give him his degree.

[TaxRelief]

I'm with you there Sam. The left is obsessed with degrees, rather than knowledge.

[stands2reason]

Wow, I was just on a Gollum thread, and now I see you here....


Now I have the urge to watch Two Towers again....

[Bonaparte]

University of Maryland. Journalism major. Rocky time as editor of student paper. Didn't graduate. Instead, went to work at the Times.

[Grampa Dave]

Old habits must be really hard to break for the pyschotic liars, who pretend to be reporters for the NY Slimes.

[mrustow]

I believe it was the University of Maryland, in Blair's case.