Fear and Lying at USA Today. Writer Says Panic Led to Deception, Then Resignation

Washington Post ^ | January 11, 2004 | Howard Kurtz

[John Jorsett]

When USA Today correspondent Jack Kelley resigned Tuesday after an investigation of his work, many colleagues wondered why he had quit if, as he adamantly maintained, his reports from around the world had been accurate.

The reason, Kelley now acknowledges, is that he "panicked and used poor judgment" during the probe.

In an effort to prove that he had spoken with a human rights activist in Yugoslavia, Kelley said in an interview, he encouraged a translator who was not present during the 1999 sit-down to impersonate another translator who was there. The woman who agreed to help Kelley called the USA Today journalist assigned to investigate the matter last fall and verified Kelley's account as if she had been there.

About two weeks later, Kelley said, he realized the magnitude of his error and confessed to the paper's publisher, executive editor and reporter Mark Memmott, who had received the bogus call.

[M-cubed]

I wonder if there was ever a time when that wasn't the sort of person they wanted to be,"<<<<...IMHO..I doubt it...We all fall short in the glory of God...all the believiers ALWAYS fall short...it's the moral base to which they can "strive" to that's important!...>>> or whether they just never reflected on the question and drifted into bad habits that blind them to their present circumstances.<<<..Probably they "never reflected" on the question....drifted lower into bad habits intill circumstances made clear "the blindness" of their ways...Pretty philosophical dont ya think..IMHO..there is no perfection in this world!

[skinkinthegrass]

..he promised education reform, Medicare Reform and campaign finance reform.

Yeah, I Know /sarcasm off...be careful what you ask for...

"Swimmer Ted's Education Bill" :((

"Geezer Prescription Drug Bill" :((

"McCain/Feingold CFR "Incumbent Protection Act" :((