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Posted on 07/08/2003 5:10:03 PM PDT by mhking
Jayson Blair Was Wrong, But He Had Accomplices
By Michael King
A New Visions Commentary paper published July 2003 by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 777 North Capitol Street NE #803, Washington, D.C. 20002, 202/371-1400, Fax 202/408-7773, E-Mail Project21@nationalcenter.org, Web http://www.project21.org. Reprints permitted provided source is credited.
Fallout from the Jayson Blair controversy continues at the New York Times.
The top editors were forced to resign. A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter resigned over criticism that he relied too much on stringers to produce his articles. The newsroom is in shock.
Former Times reporter Jayson Blair was wrong in what he did, period. He falsified quotes and facts and plagiarized the work of others. It didn't matter in this instance that he happens to be black. The secondary crime in all of this was that he was treated with kid gloves because he is black. Everyone keeps trying to make the two into one, but they are mutually exclusive.
No one besides maybe Blair, so far, disputes that. What he did was wrong. It wouldn't matter if he was black, white, red, green or blue. It still would be wrong.
The secondary issue, however, was not Blair's fault. That fault lies directly with the editors and the publisher of the Times. Instead of treating Blair with the same aplomb and impartiality that they would do with anyone else, the management at the Times chose to treat Blair in a politically correct, hands-off manner.
The result is that the birds they released are now coming home to roost.
I can't fault Blair for being black - which is what so many folks are going out of their way to do. But I can fault the now-departed Times Executive Editor Howell Raines and his cronies for patronizing Blair and, by extension, insulting all of the hard-working, well-educated and obviously far more intelligent black journalists and columnists out there.
Jayson Blair's name will be the one that goes down in history. Blair will bear the brunt of the people's ire. The ones who will most likely be quickly forgotten - and whose mindset will no doubt go uncorrected - are Raineses of the world. These are the politically correct editors who will continue to patronize blacks and look down their noses. They are oblivious to the larger damage they do to black America every day in general and black journalists in particular.
If anything, this should be a wake-up call. This should force us to demand better treatment from the press. It should force blacks to see leftists for the race-baiters that they are. The National Association of Black Journalists should be screaming from the rooftops.
But all we hear is more silence. It's so much easier to blame the right as the "Big Bad Boogieman" that seeks to "oppress" black America.
In a quiet room somewhere, as he sips a cup of coffee while reading about the "Boogieman" and Jayson Blair, I believe that Jesse Jackson is smiling knowingly.
# # #
Michael King is a member of the National Advisory Council of the African-American leadership network Project 21 and a freelance writer and Internet consultant in Atlanta, Georgia. Comments may be sent to mhking@bellsouth.net.
Note: New Visions Commentaries reflect the views of their author, and not necessarily those of Project 21.
If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.
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 Schadenfreude  |
Bingo! Michael, you have a gift, a way with words.
Blair would not have gotten away with one iota of bad journalism if he'd been working under savvy, sophisticated people like Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Alan Keyes, Larry Elder, Ward Connerly, or NRO's brilliant young journalist, DeRoy Murdock.
And can you imagine Blair working in the private sector for USSC jurist, Judge Clarence Thomas? Judge Thomas (and all of the aforementioned) would have been onto Blair from the getgo and would never have tolerated his wrongdoing. Blair would have had to shape-up, or else.
That's the difference between savvy, knowledgeable conservatives and know-nothing liberals. Conservatism, not color, is the defining factor.
Not that there is anything wrong with being . . .
Blair was not only given enough rope to hang himself with, he was used in the process.
There was a pay off to having a person write for the Times that was above normal criticism. And that benefit was that Blair could get quotes no one else could get. The reason for the unbelievable quotes was the standard (or nonstandard in this case) he was held to encouraged him to make up quotes. That benefited the people at the top.
Want quotes that sizzle? Call on Blair. He'll get them to talk. Wink, wink, nod, nod.
The white power structure benefited from the politically correct game, and when the game was up, Blair was hung -- well, hung out to dry. If it hadn't been for Raine's unpopularity, he might still be there, playing the guilty white liberal plantation owner.
The secondary issue, however, was not Blair's fault. That fault lies directly with the editors and the publisher of the Times. Instead of treating Blair with the same aplomb and impartiality that they would do with anyone else, the management at the Times chose to treat Blair in a politically correct, hands-off manner.
The result is that the birds they released are now coming home to roost.
If he wasn't so vilified, he could be hitlery's speech writer
If he wasn't so vilified, he could be hitlery's speech writer
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