The only thing that seems to be missing from the national discussion regarding former newspaper reporter Jayson Blair appears to be sympathy. Perhaps he did not deserve it. More likely, Blair had the misfortune to work for the New York Times instead of a discount store. When you do something wrong at the Times, and he did, that has more impact than being fired for cheating on your time card at a local retail outlet.
Honesty is really important at newspapers, and credibility matters. It’s the stuff of which successful newspapers are built. It matters in the retail world, too, but it doesn’t generate a national media debate when you get canned.
Blair was a fast-track young reporter on the Times staff. Good background, and a talent for schmoozing. He resigned when it turned out he plagiarized, made up stuff and made lots of errors over a five-year period. Some of the Times editors had spotted the problems earlier, but no one took effective action until after a newspaper in Texas blew the whistle on him for ripping off its story.
The Bee devoted one-third of a page to a 1,228-word wire service news story last Sunday. Blair’s bylined articles had appeared in The Bee five times in recent years, most recently in stories about the Washington, D.C., area sniper shootings. Wrapped into that Associated Press report about his errors were references to problems with two of those stories that appeared in The Bee.
If you need more details, just wait. A book and a made-for-TV movie may be in the works.
Sacramento’s reactions to Blair’s firing appear to have been minimal once you move away from the coffee pot in The Bee’s cafeteria.
‘Degrading journalism …?’
One lone reader comment arrived at the ombudsman’s office by e-mail from a consistent critic of media and The Bee. “The state of American journalism seems to be degrading before our very eyes,” he said. He suggested the media don’t look hard enough at themselves.
Take another look. In addition to the Times’ ponderous (or was it thorough?) self-examination, numerous editors appeared on television shows, every major newspaper in the country wrote about it, and The Bee opinion pages were stuffed with columns in the wake of the news story Sunday.
Conservative columnist William Safire defended the Times: “As for news coverage being influenced by editorial policy, I evoke the name of my predecessor: That’s a Krock.”
Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page opined, “The reputation of American media has been damaged by a bad apple at its premier newspaper and by his bosses’ failure to snag him.”
Washington Post Columnist Richard Cohen suggested that the Times was not being honest with readers or itself.
The Times devoted more space to their reporter’s misdeeds than The Bee gave to one Sacramento Kings NBA playoff game. By mid-week, Times executives held a closed-door meeting with the staff of the paper, assuring everyone they were embarrassed but still dedicated to greatness.
Opinions from everywhere
By Thursday no less than 28 related stories and columns were linked on one popular media Web site.
Were any lessons here for newspaper readers and journalists?
* Every newspaper — like every business — occasionally discovers a dishonest employee. They should be fired, as has happened at The Bee in the past.
* When dishonesty, mistakes and errors are ignored, that breeds bigger problems.
* Every newspaper makes mistakes, and needs to be forthright in correcting them.
* It helps to vigorously investigate reader complaints.
* Most Americans never read the New York Times. They read a local newspaper.
* The New York Times remains a good — if not always great — newspaper.
* An independent ombudsman would benefit the Times. It might have made no difference, but it might have provided a voice not limited by ambition, friendship and office politics.
* Journalism is self-policing, and the standard of honesty remains intact. Journalists blew the whistle on Blair, even when the Times editors missed the problem.
* The media may be a mess, but newspapers are better than they were a century ago. Newspapers today don’t pay hacks to make up stories.
Suggestions
Sometimes newspaper writers and editors push the language a bit too hard, and readers take note.
After perusing a report on the Kentucky Derby, a reader observed, “The writer used a ridiculous anthropomorphic description about the animal having ‘lost his manhood.’ It might seem a petty point, but I’m not sure why the writer felt the need to compare a gelding to a man, and especially at a time when testicular cancer is on the increase in our society and more and more men are having to struggle with their self-image …. Editors would never allow references to a woman without ovaries to be called an ‘it’, if one would even dare make such an irrelevant reference.”
The reader also objected to the frequent use of puns in headlines in The Bee. “…I object to it, mostly, because it trivializes the story’s subject …. Secondly, I think it reflects a profound lack of creativity.”
And, finally, readers often call to discuss details or issues relating to stories from the Associated Press, which we pass along to AP.
You can contact AP directly by e-mail if the need arises by sending a note to info@ap.org and explaining your concern. If you want our help, just ask.
