Times Bomb [Jayson Blair's inside story, from Newsweek]

Newsweek ^ | May 18, 2003 | Seth Minookin and others

[summer]

Times Bomb

Newsweek

.... As the Times meeting was unfolding, Jayson Blair was holed up in an apartment in Manhattan, talking with his lawyer and his literary agent. The week before, friends say, Blair had checked himself out of Silver Hill, a tony inpatient hospital in New Canaan, Conn., where he had been receiving treatment for a history of alcoholism, cocaine abuse and manic depression, NEWSWEEK has learned. ....

...In a conversation with NEWSWEEK, Blair spoke of his feelings since his career went up in flames: "I can't say anything other than the fact that I feel a range of emotions including guilt, shame, sadness, betrayal, freedom and appreciation for those who have stood by me, been tough on me, and have taken the time to understand that there is a deeper story and not to believe everything they read in the newspapers."...

...But Blair's performance, already spotty, seemed to be getting worse. His personal life also seemed to be spinning out of control. His apartment in Brooklyn was littered with broken furniture and rotting food, his landlord said; there was fungus, and mold. When he moved out in the fall of 2002, the place was in such sordid condition his landlord considered taking him to small-claims court to recoup damages. "It was real filth," the landlord told NEWSWEEK. "Imagine using a bathroom for two-and-a-half years and never cleaning it."

....Within months, Blair was circulating drafts of a book proposal on the sniper story in which he discussed his own anger and frustration as an African-American. "[A friend] encouraged me to look for answers about the history of violence in my own family and that of Lee Malvo [the other sniper suspect], suggesting the search would not be in vain, if it at least ended my restless angst," Blair wrote. Later, he told friends that he identified with Malvo....

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

"...and not to believe everything they read in the newspapers..."

No $h!t.

[summer]

I too, am outraged that this little creep is going to make big bucks over being a criminal. It's disgusting!

"Outrage" sums it up.

[Howlin]

Oh no, they had a street wise black with addictions who did not work honestly.

You missed the most important part: HE SMOKES!!!

I'm surprised Raines kept him on staff after he found that out. Lying, fine; smoking, you're outta here.

[summer]

The article says the NYT does not disclose salaries, or something like that. However, in the article, Blair is alleged to have bragged about a raise her received at the NYT.

[Howlin]

I'm enjoying the HELL out of watching liberals being hoisted on their own petards, are you?

[Timesink]

Schadenfreude

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

[summer]

her received = he received

[summer]

Re your post #58 - How true. Thanks for posting that link. :)

[NittanyLion]

I'm enjoying the HELL out of watching liberals being hoisted on their own petards, are you?

I was saying the same to a friend. Today's liberals just can't get out of their own way. They're constantly backtracking, denying, and spinning against their own positions.

You really have to give Pres. Bush a ton of credit for setting the agenda and aggressively pushing to achieve it. By doing so he's forced the Democrats into a totally reactive mode, and it seems that 90% of their reactions are the wrong ones.

[aristeides]

Other people that have had odd feelings of invulnerability: Clinton, Hitler. I wonder if there was any cocaine in the injections Dr. Morrell gave Hitler.

[Cicero]

I'm absolutely delighted. This story just won't die. And it's almost entirely the mainstream, liberal media that keep on pushing it. Obviously the see a chance to bring down the reputation of the snooty NY Times, and they just can resist piling on.

In theory I agree that people shouldn't profit by writing books about unsavory activities. But if they pass a law, I hope they do it after Jayson Blair's book comes out.

The more this mess can be kept alive and in front of the public, the better. Sure, we all know that the Times has done much worse things. But there's no accounting for what will be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back. I think this may be it. I don't see the Times recovering its reputation anytime soon after all this dirty laundry has been aired by gleeful liberals.

[Timesink]

Kurtz said he felt there should be a law, similiar to the Son of Sam law in NY (which prevents convicted criminals from selling their stories), whereby a writer is prohibited from colelcting any profit as a result of journalist fraud.

Kurtz apparently isn't very familiar with the First Amendment. The only reason things like Son of Sam laws are constitutionally tolerable - barely (and they have been struck down before) - is because they're based on profiting from felony CRIMES. It is not illegal to lie. The only things Blair could possibly be hit up for are libel and intellectual property theft. One is a civil matter, the other about a half-step above a parking ticket in terms of seriousness, and a crime almost no plagiarizing reporter is ever charged with anyway. They get suspended or fired, and the wronged newspaper drops the matter; that's the way it works.

Besides, it also would get the government into the business of deciding what is and is not "the truth" ... and I don't think there's a single one of us here that doesn't find that concept disgusting.

[proxy_user]

What I point to is more stupidity and arrogance than fraud. This is not to deny that fraud exists, but fraud would not be very effective without gullible individuals running large and valuable institutions.

Was Ebbers a crook, or a jumped-up salesman who really believed he was a great businessman? It's really very hard to say.

I'm afraid that if we starting sending people to jail for being stupid, we're going to have to put a wall around the country and ask the smart people to leave.

[Timesink]

Raines and others who did nothing to stop that jackass Blair are domestic enemies for they undermine the public's VITAL faith in the efficacy and integrity of our institutions from within.

I disagree that they did nothing. They actively chose to keep him on staff after having been warned time and time again.

[summer]

In theory I agree that people shouldn't profit by writing books about unsavory activities. But if they pass a law, I hope they do it after Jayson Blair's book comes out.

The more this mess can be kept alive and in front of the public, the better.
I agree; it's good that people are talking about it, for many reasons. BTW, Cicero, the law would allow OTHERS to write and profit from a book re the NYT and Jayson Blair.
Only Jayson Blair (and other Jayson Blairs in future such matters) would be prohibited from profitting. So, this matter will not die, even if such a law is passed now.

[summer]

They actively chose to keep him on staff after having been warned time and time again.

You're right. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Howlin]

I was telling Cincinatus' Wife and Carolinamom just the other day that if, back in January, somebody had come on here and made the statement that by Memorial Day, both CNN and The New York Times would have been exposed for the scum they are, they would have been carried away in a straight jacket!

The really swell part of this one is that it's a "two-fer," the NYT AND Howell Raines, the poster boy for white man liberal guilt. What a cliche.

[summer]

It is not illegal to lie.

But actually, it can be illegal to lie. There are many laws prohibiting people from falsifying all kinds of documents, and forgery is a crime based on a lie.

[mware]

Raines also said that if he looked into his heart, his guilt as a white man from Alabama had something to do with why he gave Blair, a black reporter from Virginia, second and third and fourth chances.

With that statement Raines showed that the NYT is more a instrument of his own myoptic preceptions of the world that the news.

[Timesink]

But actually, it can be illegal to lie. There are many laws prohibiting people from falsifying all kinds of documents, and forgery is a crime based on a lie.

You're right; I should have added a caveat. It is not illegal to lie in general. And the courts have specifically ruled that it is not illegal for news organizations to run completely made-up stories as long as nobody is wronged.