N.Y. Times Apologizes in Blair Case

Yahoo! News ^ | 5/14/03 | Tara Burghart - AP

[NormsRevenge]

NEW YORK -

In a town hall-style meeting that drew hundreds of staff members, top executives at The New York Times apologized Wednesday for mistakes and oversights that allowed a former reporter to repeatedly fabricate and plagiarize material.

Reporters, editors and photographers crowded into a theater behind the Times' offices for the session, called after the newspaper found that Jayson Blair "committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud" in stories from October through April. The meeting, closed to other media, lasted more than two hours.

"I've received a lot of advice on what to say to you today, all of it well-intended," Executive Editor Howell Raines told the staff, according to a statement issued by the Times.

"The best came from reporters who told me to speak to you from my heart. So the first thing I'm going to tell you is that I'm here to listen to your anger, wherever it's directed. To tell you that I know that our institution has been damaged, that I accept my responsibility for that, and I intend to fix it."

Reporter John Wilford said many questions focused on the breakdown in communication that allowed Blair to remain at the newspaper — and be given national assignments — even after he repeatedly made mistakes during an earlier assignment on the paper's metro desk.

"I heard a lot of people ask questions about the desire for better communications (from) the reporters all the way up, instead of just from the top down," Wilford said.

Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd also led the meeting. In their opening remarks, the Times said, "the executives apologized for the mistakes they made and the pain caused by their oversights."

One reporter asked whether Raines intended to resign, according to a participant who spoke on condition of anonymity. Raines responded that he did not plan to leave the Times, and Sulzberger said he would not accept the editor's resignation even if it were submitted.

Some staffers interviewed after the session complained they did not have sufficient time to ask questions, but others noted the newspaper was working to address problems.

"We've got some internal problems we need to take care of, and they're trying to take care of them the best they can," said Mike Wise, a sports writer.

Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis said newspaper executives are "reinforcing our open-door invitation for anyone on the staff to come and tell us about concerns."

The Times published a 7,500-word story Sunday that detailed fabrication, plagiarism and factual errors in 36 stories by Blair, most of them written over the last five months. They included articles about the investigation into last fall's sniper attacks.

Blair resigned May 1 after questions were raised about his work. Late Tuesday, he read a statement to the AP in which he said: "I remain truly sorry for my lapses in journalistic integrity. I continue to struggle with recurring issues that have caused me great pain."

He refused to answer any questions.

Federal prosecutors have asked the Times for information about Blair, although neither the newspaper nor the prosecutor's office in Manhattan would describe the information being sought. It was unclear what crimes could have been committed.

The Times had not received a subpoena and had not replied to the request, said another newspaper spokesman, Toby Usnik.

Matthew Fishbein, an assistant U.S. attorney in New York from 1993 to 1997, said a criminal case would be highly unusual in such circumstances.

In this case, Fishbein said, prosecutors could consider charges under mail or wire fraud statutes, which allow cases against defendants who devise a scheme "to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services." He said the charge is most commonly brought against politicians.

Meanwhile, alumni of the University of Maryland's student newspaper, The Diamondback, said they plan to research stories written by Blair when he worked there in the mid-1990s. The university's student-staffed wire service is also reviewing Blair's work, as is the Boston Globe, where Blair was an intern.

[martin_fierro]

"I've received a lot of advice on what to say to you today, all of it well-intended," Executive Editor Howell Raines told the staff, according to a statement issued by the Times. "The best came from reporters who told me to speak to you from my heart...."

Ewwww. Great big group hug time.

Howie "speaking from his heart"? We MUST have reached the truth. < /sarcasm>

[noutopia]

Slime says to slime,hey I aint slime.

[goldstategop]

I pheeel yaaaaaaaah phaaaaaaaain. Case dismissed.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

["I've received a lot of advice on what to say to you today, all of it well-intended," Executive Editor Howell Raines told the staff, according to a statement issued by the Times. "The best came from reporters...]

Their best advice would have come from Free Republic -- But they would never listen.

What now? A "National Apology Tour"? Complete with Clinton-sized Bibles that have to be carried in wheel barrows, accompanied by the DC media corps, followed by a full-court press by the leftist spinmeisters? I hear the drumbeats in the distance.

[He Rides A White Horse]

What now? A "National Apology Tour"? Complete with Clinton-sized Bibles that have to be carried in wheel barrows, accompanied by the DC media corps, followed by a full-court press by the leftist spinmeisters? I hear the drumbeats in the distance.

Right Tom. They'll 'reclaim' journalistic integrity just in time to bash the President at election time.

[He Rides A White Horse]

"The best came from reporters who told me to speak to you from my heart. So the first thing I'm going to tell you is that I'm here to listen to your anger, wherever it's directed. To tell you that I know that our institution has been damaged, that I accept my responsibility for that, and I intend to fix it."

"Okay, we have fixed the internal problems. Now let us tell you something about the President; you can bet on it that our words are true............"

[Congressman Billybob]

Howell Raines' comment reminds me of Richard Nixon's answer to Dan Rather, when Nixon was a President and Rather was a newsman, "I am not a crook." That is PRECISELY the kind of question that the person under suspicion cannot definitively answer.

Because Raines' conduct is now under suspicion, his claim that he "can fix the problem" is likewise undre suspicion. Exactly the same applied to Nixon, when he was under the gun.

The same two critical questions must be answered about Raines that Senator Howard Baker asked about Nixon: "What did he know? And when did he know it?" And Raines' denials cannot be accepted at face value. The investigation at the Times cannot end here, and must continue, for the same reason that the investigation of Nixon could not end with his denial.

Any competent reporter who knows how to dig into a story, and that includes at least half of the reporters at the Times itself, knows this. They know that this mass meeting to pledge fealty to Big Brother, i.e. Howell Raines, solved nothing.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, now up FR, "News Unfit to Print."

[liberalnot]

my god!

the original piece the other day in the print edition of the new york times was 4 pages long!

wasn't that enough self-incrimination?

or, was it self-indulgence?

in any case comrade, haines will be rehabilitated and back at work!

[NormsRevenge]

Excellent!

Baghdad Bob Crashes Howell Raines Revival Meeting - NYT FREEP After Action Report by Doctor Raoul

Wed May 14, 6:26 PM ET

New York Times staff members display their identification cards as they arrive for a meeting with the paper's senior editors in New York Wednesday, May 14, 2003. The town hall-style meeting was called to discuss the paper's handling of former Times reporter Jayson Blair, who was found to have plagiarized or fabricated material in at least three dozen articles. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

[WorkingClassFilth]

Don't forget the 'everybody-else-does-it-too' campaign in which journalism failures as far back as George Washington will be spun to demonstrate what an standard practice and everyday occurrance duplicity, fraud and outright lying are in newsrooms across America. FR could help with that campaign since there's plenty of proof...

[Timesink]

Schadenfreude

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

[Grampa Dave]

[ReleaseTheHounds]

Notice, in this article, that the only NYT employee to go "on the record" with a quote is a sports reporter -- I'm sure he's ready to go look into NOWs campaign vendetta against Augusta as he was leaving the meeting.

I wonder if the subject of Affirmative Action came up in yesterday's meeting... I wonder if the subject of idealogical slant in hiring, promotion, and writing came up... The NYT's has a rather deep culture and tradition that has brought them to this very low point -- they better start digging out but they clearly don't have the leaders to show the way.

[Redwood71]

"One reporter asked whether Raines intended to resign, according to a participant who spoke on condition of anonymity. Raines responded that he did not plan to leave the Times, and Sulzberger said he would not accept the editor's resignation even if it were submitted."

Goodness have I heard this before! Did he get off with an intern and lie about it also? Did he embarrass the paper among the world, and cause it to lose international respect? Is his wife running for office?