A Journalist's Hard Fall (Newsweek: Jayson Blair in "Hospital Setting Dealing w/ Personal Problems"

Newsweek ^ | May 19, 2003 | Seth Mnookin

[Timesink]

A Journalist’s Hard Fall

The New York Times confronts an embarrassing trail of deceit—and difficult questions about its own culture

[...]

But there's plenty that the Times report, which ran under the rubric CORRECTING THE RECORD, didn't fully explore, namely how a troubled young reporter whose short career was rife with problems was able to advance so quickly. Internally, reporters had wondered for years whether Blair was given so many chances - and whether he was hired in the first place - because he was a promising, if unpolished, black reporter on a staff that continues to be, like most newsrooms in the country, mostly white. The Times also didn't address an uncomfortable but unavoidable topic that has been broached with some of the paper's top editors during the past week: by favoring Blair, did the Times end up reinforcing some of the worst suspicions about the pitfalls of affirmative action? And will there be fewer opportunities for young minority reporters in the future?

"We have, generally, a horribly undiverse staff," says one Times staffer. "And so we hold up and promote the few black staffers we have." That's a point other news outlets have made since Blair resigned. Executive editor Howell Raines, who declined repeated requests for an inter-view with NEWSWEEK, told NPR, when pressed about whether Blair was pushed along because of his race, "No, I do not see it as illustrating that point. I see it as illustrating a tragedy for Jayson Blair." (Blair, whose voice mail at the Times was still active as of Saturday evening, did not respond to a message left there or on his cell phone; several sources at the Times say he is currently in a hospital setting dealing with personal problems.)

[...]

Questions about Raines's management style - his penchant for giving preferential treatment to favored stars, his celebrated fondness for "flooding the zone" on big stories, severely stretching resources - weren't addressed at all. Indeed, more than one Times staffer pointed out that the paper's national staff would not have been in need of the services of an untested young reporter with a spotty track record had a number of veterans not been pushed out by Raines last year.

[...]

[Timesink]

Vast majority of the article has been cut under the LAT/WP agreement, of course. The above are the juciest grafs, IMHO, but you ought to read the whole thing. Note well that Howell Raines, directly or indirectly, has a lot more to do with this mess than you would think.)

And you do have to ask yourself the question: In the long run, the dismissal of which of the following two men would be in the best interest of The New York Times?

[Timesink]

Um ... anyone know why that second highlighted sentence turned green instead of red?

[John Jorsett]

I'm waiting for the lawsuit that Blair files against the NYT because they didn't stop him. Everyone knows nobody is responsible for anything on their own, unless they're conservatives, in which case they're responsible for everything bad that happens.

[Dog Gone]

I have no idea.

[John Jorsett]

Um ... anyone know why that second highlighted sentence turned green instead of red?

Looks fine to me. But then, I'm color blind.

[Timesink]

This is the New York Times Schadenfreude Ping List. Freepmail me to be added or dropped.

[Timesink]

Maybe I should rephrase: Are both highlighted sentences in red for everyone except those using Safari as their browser? Seems like every bug I have these days is a Safari bug.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Dealing w/ Personal Problems

This must be what journalists do...
Politicians who screw up quit "to spend more time with their families..."

[freeangel]

He's dealing with personal problems alright--he got caught!

[Dog Gone]

The second sentence is definitely in green on my IE browser.

[Faraday]

In honor of St. Patrick?

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

No, I get the second highlighted sentence in green in IE. I think it might have been a mistake in the HTML. The green sentence's tag reads: FONT color=#0ed0

[driftless]

Good point. No one would miss Raines. But Raines simply expresses the will of the publisher Pinch Sulzberger who is a lot more leftist than his pappy. He would just put another extreme liberal mope similar to Raines in charge.

[DainBramage]

I knew in my heart he was gonna turn out to be the victim.

He was turned into a dirty rotten lying cheat by the New York Times.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

It also shows up in green on Netscape 7.01.

[Timesink]

I knew in my heart he was gonna turn out to be the victim. He was turned into a dirty rotten lying cheat by the New York Times.

Oh no he wasn't. Go look back on some of the earlier FR threads on this matter. He was doing the same thing at his college newspaper.

[Loyalist]

Several sources at the Times say he is currently in a hospital setting dealing with personal problems.

Why can't they just say he's in detox?

[Faraday]

Has anything been said about Mr. Blair's sexual orientation or gender status? Clearly, WP/Newsweek is trying to hold this "brother" to a white, male, imperialist standard of "objectivity." And why should he be the only one? And why was Adam Clymer allowed to resign? Ahh...the NYT is becoming a real source of entertainment.

[PJ-Comix]

Indeed, more than one Times staffer pointed out that the paper's national staff would not have been in need of the services of an untested young reporter with a spotty track record had a number of veterans not been pushed out by Raines last year.

If Pinch Sulzberger were not so mesmerized by Howell Raines' zipper, Raines would already be history. Raines has proven to be the WORST editor in the history of journalism but because he has Pinch Sulzberger in hypnotic awe of him, Raines probably won't be fired.

[mlmr]

Additional question. I have always understood that NYT has a preponderence of homosexual reporters and staff. Yes, this reporter may be black, but I wonder whetther his real affirmative action is in his sexual preference????


What is Mr. Raines sexual orientation??