Posted on 05/11/2003 2:17:04 PM PDT by Timesink
A Journalists Hard Fall
The New York Times confronts an embarrassing trail of deceitand 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. [...] |
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...
The Old Grey Lady has become senile under the leadership of Raines.
Can anyone help me out with a link or sumthin? Thanks.
He's a Dowd-o-sexual. (Yes, really. It's a disgusting thought. I have to go and wash my brain now.)
Only a guy like this could get a phone in his cell.
I have heard stories in the past about a "gay mafia" largely controlling the Times' newsroom management, but I have no idea if it's true. I also have no idea about Blair's sexual preference(s).
What is Mr. Raines sexual orientation??
rystyna Anna Stachowiak, a former marketing and public relations consultant, and Howell Raines, executive editor of The New York Times, were married yesterday at Trinity Episcopal Church in Mount Pocono, Pa. Canon Virginia Rex Day performed the ceremony.
Mrs. Raines, 39, was until recently the executive consultant at Coltrin & Associates, a New York public relations firm. From 1991 to 1995, she was a Washington correspondent for The Warsaw Voice, an English-language weekly.
The bride graduated with a master's degree in English literature from Opole University in Opole, Poland, where her parents, Zofia and Henryk Stachowiak, live. Her father, a former governor of Opole Province, is the chairman of Vendo Ltd., a furniture manufacturer in Opole. Her mother, who is retired, was a supervisor at the Center for Teaching Methodology and an economics teacher at the Economics High School, both in Opole.
Mr. Raines, 60, was editor of The Times's editorial page before becoming executive editor in 2001. He won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1992. He graduated from Birmingham-Southern College and received a master's degree in English from the University of Alabama. His parents, the late Bertha Walker Raines and the late W. S. Raines, lived in Birmingham, where his father was a founder of the Raines Brothers Store Fixture Company.
The bride's previous marriage ended in divorce, as did the bridegroom's.
The NY Times has 20 pages of "stuff", and excuses but it requires registration...The main FR thread is here link
Pity the NY Times. They really screwed the pooch on this one. Just the little bit I read is very, very bad.
In the business world,
I think the hypocrisy
runs deeper than this.
Individuals --
"rogue traders," minority
hires, second chancers --
are welcomed when they
bring in corporate profit,
or publicity.
Then these loose cannons
are part of the team. But if
individuals
get caught screwing up,
then corporations make clear
that the loose cannon
was the one problem --
It's not the company that
must get punishment...
So, the company
reaps all the rewards involved,
but washes its hands
of any blame. Geesh!
Heads, corporations win, and
tails, employees lose...
Fire Howell Raines NOW!!
Replace Raines with a competent and honest editor.
1. How much time does it take to check that interviews occurred? Just by calling the interviewee and asking if Blair spoke to him/her.
2. Why not require timely submission of expense reports? Then phantom trips would be detected. This makes sense for BOTH editorial and accounting accuracy.
3. Do other newspapers check stories for accuracy better than the Times? Can they teach the Times how to do this?
4. The Times says nothing about improving its checks on reporters. How many other Jayson Blairs are on its staff? Whey should we think there is only one villain?
5. How did a journalisim student WITHOUT a degree (Blair dropped out of Maryland - according to reports I've seen) get a job with the Times in the first place?
Don't expect the Times' sisters to ask these questions.
I thought nothing about it when Clymer announced his resignation. But it was right around the time the Blair scandal was taking off, wasn't it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.