Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception

The New York Times ^ | May 11, 2003

[kristinn]

Unnamed sources are a biased journalist's best device for slanting the news.

Used properly to protect a whistleblower or witness to a crime, the unnamed source can be of great service to the public. However their usage has been totally abused and needs to be reined in. We need to keep harping on that, because journalists and their editors won't stop abusing it unless held accountable.

[skinkinthegrass]

So the Grand Old Lady...has become a nubile cheap truck-stop hooker waiting for next her fix...Shrillary Clinton... :)

[MediaMole]

Raines (Maureen Dowd's boyfriend) has done much more harm to the Times than this hack could ever do.

[rabidralph]

I wonder if they'll be eligible for a Pulitzer for investigative journalism?

[skinkinthegrass]

I wonder if they'll be eligible for a Pulitzer for investigative journalism?

Why Not...Jimmah Cartar got the Nobel Peace Prize.. :|

[Pukka Puck]

Between the first coverage of the sniper attacks in late October and late April, Mr. Blair filed articles claiming to be from 20 cities in six states. Yet during those five months, he did not submit a single receipt for a hotel room, rental car or airplane ticket, officials at The Times said.

How does this blatant and flagrant flouting of all rules jive with the finds of the investigation, "The investigation suggests several reasons Mr. Blair's deceits went undetected for so long: a failure of communication among senior editors; few complaints from the subjects of his articles; his savviness and his ingenious ways of covering his tracks."?

[Pukka Puck]

"Mr. Blair did not have a company credit card - the reasons are unclear - and had been forced to rely on Mr. Roberts's credit card to pay bills from his first weeks on the sniper story. His own credit cards, he had told a Times administrator, were beyond their credit limit."

He was a deadbeat too.

[aristeides]

Raines: Diversity “More Important” Than Better Journalism.

[NYCVirago]

One other thing:

On an expense report filed in January, for example, he indicated that he had bought blankets at a Marshall's department store in Washington; the receipt showed that the purchase was made at a Marshall's in Brooklyn.

Never mind the location difference -- how in the world would blankets be a justifiable work expense?

[aristeides]

His own credit cards, he had told a Times administrator, were beyond their credit limit."

Drugs? Gambling?

[Pukka Puck]

But Mr. Sulzberger emphasized that as The New York Times continues to examine how its employees and readers were betrayed, there will be no newsroom search for scapegoats. ``The person who did this is Jayson Blair,'' he said. ``Let's not begin to demonize our executives - either the desk editors or the executive editor or, dare I say, the publisher.''

Authority, but no responsibility, eh, Mr. Sulzberger? Nice work if you can get it.

[martin_fierro]

Ping.

[rabidralph]

``It's difficult to catch someone who is deliberately trying to deceive you,'' Mr. Rosenstiel said.

FR doesn't seem to have any trouble rooting out journalistic deception.

[Pukka Puck]

"Still, in the midst of covering a succession of major news events, from serial killings and catastrophes to the outbreak of war, something clearly broke down in the Times newsroom. It appears to have been communication - the very purpose of the newspaper itself."

No, I would say that what broke down was common sense, always a rare commodity amongst liberals. So much for hard-nosed news hounds, these clowns refused to see an obvious disaster right under their very noses.

Wasn't the lying reporter for the Washington Post, who wrote stories about an 8-year-old heroin addict as black?

[rabidralph]

Five years' worth of information about Mr. Blair was available in one building, yet no one put it together to determine whether he should be put under intense pressure and assigned to cover high-profile national events.

And yet, "Bush knew!"

[martin_fierro]

The Times is asking readers to report any additional falsehoods in Mr. Blair's work; the e-mail address is retrace@nytimes.com.

That's retrace@nytimes.com, folks.

Where to begin? Just have Howie Raines resign, junk the NYT and start over.

[Travis McGee]

He was only found out because he was so bloody flagrant. If he had only made up 10 or 20% of carefully selected stories, to slant the truth, he would have gotten away with it for years.

Like most liberal liars in the lamestream media.

[Loyalist]

It was not the vigilance of the Times editorial staff that brought down Jayson Blair, but his own hubris.

I'm sure that many of the top editorial staffers made up quotes, sources and whole stories from time to time. Like the best liars, however, they knew what to lie about, and when not to lie.

That's why they made it to the top, and Blair got the axe.

[martin_fierro]

This article fairly screams, "To All Concerned: Pleeeeeease don't sue us for Libel!".

[aynrandfreak]

``There are risks if you create a system that is so suspicious of reporters in a newsroom that it can interfere with the relationship of creativity that you need in a newsroom - of the trust between reporters and editors.''

In "All the President's Men", those editors never seemed to trust Woodward & Bernstein, they always had to get confirmations of sources.
It's almost better for the Times if this is affirmative action. I'd hate to think that they would any reporter get away with repeated fabrications as easily too.