TIMES ADMITS YOUNG REPORTER ENGAGED IN 'FRAUD'

New York Post ^ | 5/11/03 | Post Wire Services

[kattracks]

May 11, 2003 -- The New York Times made a rare front-page mea culpa today, outlining a pattern of deception, lies and "journalistic fraud" perpetrated by a former reporter assigned to some of the year's biggest stories.

The reporter, Jayson Blair, resigned from the so-called Paper of Record last week after editors discovered that he had stolen details about a missing soldier's mother from a San Antonio newspaper.

[Pharmboy]

The simple fact that his boss wrote a memo in April 2002 saying that they must get rid of him "now" and they DID NOT appears to make the case for special favors (and, with the Times' history, the fact that he was AA likely being the key issue that saved him is not a reach). I stand by what I posted about it being and affirmative action issue; a white or Asian reporter would likely NEVER have survived this many known errors for so long.

[Pharmboy]

I agree. But it just ADDS another reason to treat him...gently.

[Jim Noble]

That was my first thought as well.

Black journalism grads are a dime a dozen-this kiddo's career path is just too, too fast to be explained by mere affirmative action.

[jporcus]

Where were the editors who are supposed to look over and check out what these journalists write? Yes, this journalist was wrong, but they are now crucifying him on their front page. He deserves to be fired, and to be shamed, but he is NOT the only one at fault. Let's see if they go UP the chain of command on this one. In addition to Who where his editors: Who hired him? What criteria did they use?

[Pharmboy]

I would not be surprised if Mr. Howell Raines winds up as a columnist for the Times or the Boston Globe soon and steps aside as editor. I predict six months.

[freedumb2003]

>>They have an OP ED by none other than Monica S. Lewinsky!!!!<<
OMG!!!

is there a thread on that one somwhere?

[McGavin999]

And what were the editors doing when this was going on? Obviously not their job. The NYT has more problems then a rogue reporter, it has a fundamental problem with management.

[Ironword]

Walter Duranty's Pulitzer still hangs in a place of honor in the lobby of the NYT.
If they really want to clean house, they'd take it down, and issue an apology to the millions that Uncle Joe buried in the Ukraine.

Don't forget Matthew Jeffries and the NYT editors assuring American readers that Fidel Castro, before and after coming down the mountain from his revolutionary redoubt, was not a communist.

The NYT is a lying ragsheet.

[McGavin999]

This isn't about race, it's about the fact that a man was allowed to make 50 mistakes and maintain his job. It's the duty of everyone to explore the reasons. Maybe it was liberal bias, maybe it was laziness, maybe it was just because he got away with it. Whatever the reason, it weakens the confidence in our media (it wasn't that great to begin with).

The Old Gray Lady has become senile.

[MistrX]

Maybe he and Doris Kearns Goodwin can go off and write a book together.

[Mister Baredog]

is there a thread on that one somwhere?

I think you have to sign up to get to it, try LA Times.com? BTW I didn't bother to read it, and I wasn't amused. They have reached a NEW LOW.

[BunnySlippers]

Jayson Blair

[Tall_Texan]

Look at it this way. When it's discovered that Bill Bennett blew millions of dollars in gambling casinos, that was news. Why? Because Bennett postures himself as a man of virtue and a moral authority. Aside from all the other angles (political and otherwise), the story resonates because Bennett holds a higher standard for everyone else because of his own demand for that standard.

So when the New York Times, which postures itself not just as the "Newspaper of Record" but also of the highest standards of liberalism, finds out (way after it should have known) that a national reporter has been making up facts and plagerizing in stories published just below their masthead, it is news because of their demand for the high standard they want to impose on everyone else. That the reporter is African-American, and had previously been publicly trumpeted by the paper in their effort to achieve workplace diversity, is icing on the cake.

Frankly, many newsrooms have been as lily white as the locker room at the Augusta National Country Club for decades but you'd never know it for all the moralizing they do and posturing for *everyone else* to conform to their vision of equality. They hold themselves exempt from what they expect of everyone else and when they finally try to right their own wrong by cutting corners, it explodes in their faces.

I, for one, expressed sympathy for the writer (see above). He's certainly not the only liar at the New York Times.

[freedumb2003]

I mean is there a thread about that editorial? I get the LAT since it is the only meaningful rag about here. I try to ignore the left leaning and try to extract the facts from the opinion in their "news."

And I always take a big breath before opening the Opinion secion.

[Mister Baredog]

I mean is there a thread about that editorial? I get the LAT since it is the only meaningful rag about here. I try to ignore the left leaning and try to extract the facts from the opinion in their "news."

Haven't seen a thread yet but I would be surprised if they were the only paper to run it. If she said anything I expect we'll hear about it, I can hardly wait.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for the picture and heads up!