Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception (Fabricated Stories for years)

NY Times ^ | 5/11/03 | NY Times

[Mark Felton]

staff reporter for The New York Times committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud while covering significant news events in recent months, an investigation by Times journalists has found. The widespread fabrication and plagiarism represent a profound betrayal of trust and a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper.

The reporter, Jayson Blair, 27, misled readers and Times colleagues with dispatches that purported to be from Maryland, Texas and other states, when often he was far away, in New York. He fabricated comments. He concocted scenes. He lifted material from other newspapers and wire services. He selected details from photographs to create the impression he had been somewhere or seen someone, when he had not.

And he used these techniques to write falsely about emotionally charged moments in recent history, from the deadly sniper attacks in suburban Washington to the anguish of families grieving for loved ones killed in Iraq.

In an inquiry focused on correcting the record and explaining how such fraud could have been sustained within the ranks of The Times, the Times journalists have so far uncovered new problems in at least 36 of the 73 articles Mr. Blair wrote since he started getting national reporting assignments late last October. In the final months the audacity of the deceptions grew by the week, suggesting the work of a troubled young man veering toward professional self-destruction.

Mr. Blair, who has resigned from the paper, was a reporter at The Times for nearly four years, and he was prolific. Spot checks of the more than 600 articles he wrote before October have found other apparent fabrications, and that inquiry continues. The Times is asking readers to report any additional falsehoods in Mr. Blair's work; the e-mail address is retrace@nytimes.com.

[Mark Felton]

The post is an excerpt, click link for full incredible story.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

deception

[Gabz]

Spot checks of the more than 600 articles he wrote before October have found other apparent fabrications, and that inquiry continues. The Times is asking readers to report any additional falsehoods in Mr. Blair's work; the e-mail address is retrace@nytimes.com.

I wonder how many other "fabricated" stories will be revealed in the NYT???????

[Paleo Conservative]

The widespread fabrication and plagiarism represent a profound betrayal of trust and a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper.

Low point? I find it indistinguishable from the rest of the reporting in the Times.

[byteback]

Let the backtracking begin..

Landman opposed Blair's elevation to staff reporter in 2001, but a committee that included Gerald Boyd, now the managing editor, recommended the move, and Joseph Lelyveld, then the executive editor, approved it. Landman said top management had made clear that furthering the career of a reporter like Blair, who is African American, was part of the newspaper's commitment to diversity.

"To say now that his promotion was about diversity in my view doesn't begin to capture what was going on," Boyd, the paper's top-ranking black editor, is quoted as saying, calling Blair "a young, promising reporter."

[Libloather]

The Times is asking readers to report any additional falsehoods in Mr. Blair's work...

Should be the other way around - eh?

[hgro]

Sorry Raines, yOu are not too TIMELY!

[rabidralph]

Please consider searching using words in the title or using keywords. This is the third post of this article.

[Jay D. Dyson]

A staff reporter for The New York Times committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud while covering significant news events in recent months, an investigation by Times journalists has found.

I don't see how this is different than the conduct of any other Times reporter. Hell, John Markoff went on a fiction jag about Kevin Mitnick that lasted years and culminated with Markoff's claiming that Mitnick "hacked into NORAD"! (That lie has since gone unchallenged long enough by the Times that it's now considered truth, even though there is no truth to the claim whatsoever.)

Be surprised that there's lying, malfeasance, and unethical conduct at the Times? Hell, I'm surprised that the Times actually admitted EVEN ONE CASE of it!

-Jay

[Mark Felton]

"Hell, I'm surprised that the Times actually admitted EVEN ONE CASE of it! "

They were forced to admit it. The small newspaper from which they plagiarized had already printed an expose and is threatening to sue.

[mewzilla]

I've been wondering if any other papers complained, and if the Times asked/pressured/bribed them into keeping quiet. Inquiring minds want to know.

[CharlotteVRWC]

Someone needs to file a Malpractice Lawsuit against the Times.

[shiva]

The guy's black. Call in Jesse Jackson.

[truth defector]

It doesn't sound that off base with me. Seems that is standard operating procedure in America in general these days. I'll tell you what really s**ks though, is when lawyers and judges fictionalize facts in a case so when their rulings come down they don't sound patently absurd.
I was assigned an attorney by the courts in a civil rights case recently and when I pointed out that the ruling relied on "undisputed facts," that were opposite of the truth, the attorney said that that is not appealable and to appeal the case we would have to argue based on the law.

Well the truth is, the law really doesn't mean anything either. These kind of people don't deserve to be sitting in judgement of us little people.

More to follow! I intend to paste a link to the published opinion along with a full story of all the Barbra Streisand our minders have put me through because they think it is all so funny. I will have the last laugh though, because I have been praying for them 24/7. Good luck crook lawyers, judges and all those who think the coverup has worked.

[Great Dane]

So now lets see all the other frauds exposed, the ones using junk science.

[jellybean]

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