By Mary Mostert, Analyst, Banner of Liberty (www.bannerofliberty.com)
May 15, 2003
In a 7900 word article, the New York Times told its readers its view of how it “happened” that its reporter, Jayson Blair, managed to make up stories and foist them off as “news” articles for YEARS. In its lengthy “Correction” entitled “Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception” the official view of the New York Times began:
“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.”
Blair “misled readers? Blair and the New York Times did not just “mislead” people. They flat out lied to their readers for years. The “correction” went on to say Blair: “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.”
In order for the N.Y. Times to solve the problem at some point the editors need to identify the problem. So far, there is little inclination on the part of NY Times editors and columnists, such as William Safire, to do that. In fact, Chairman of the N.Y. Times Board, Arthur Sulzberger, went so far as to say: “There will be no newsroom search for scapegoats. The person who did this is Jayson Blair. Let's not begin to demonize our executives — either the desk editors or the executive editor or, dare I say, the publisher."
The Times' executive editor, Howell Raines, who probably greatly appreciates Safire’s cover-up of the real problems, said a “terrible mistake” was made.
If so, exactly what WAS the mistake, who made it and how can it be corrected? According to my dictionary, a “mistake” is an error in action, calculation, opinion or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, or insufficient information. Blair’s stories were not “mistakes.” They were deliberate, carefully planned and executed lies.
For example, Blair wrote in a March 27, 2003 article he supposedly wrote in West Virginia after a personal interview with former POW Jessica Lynch’s father, that Gregory Lynch, Sr. “choked up as he stood on his porch here overlooking the tobacco fields and cattle pastures."
Blair never interviewed Gregory Lynch, was not in West Virginia, and there are no tobacco fields or cattle pastures to overlook from the Lynch home which is in a valley.
The problem here is not simply “errors” in Blair’s reporting. The problem is, Blair has no discernible journalistic integrity. His articles in the sniper case, for example, repeatedly and frequently included deliberate lies about how people in law enforcement were treating the two black suspects. In February of this year, Fairfax County Virginia’s Attorney Robert Horan said of the New York Times’ reports on the sniper investigation, “I must confess that I have seen more incorrect reports in this investigation than in any I’ve dealt with in the last 36 years I’ve been doing it.” He pointed out that three of the five “pieces of evidence” cited in Blair’s story were totally false. New York Times spokesperson Catherine Mathis responded to Horan’s blunt and specific criticisms of the story with a huffy: “We were fully confident of the accuracy and thoroughness of our reporting, and of the authoritativeness of our multiple law enforcement sources.”
This is not a problem peculiar to this one young, black reporter having no journalistic integrity. The problem lies with the Times editors who hired a writer with no journalistic integrity and then protected him with their own lack of integrity.
A report released Sunday written by N.Y. Times staff members’ details nine pages of errors in 73 of the 600 articles written for the paper by Blair over a period of four years. It deals only with actual factual errors, not the obvious N.Y. Times bias against people who enforce the law in articles Horan criticized.
What does the N.Y. Times now intend doing about the aura of incompetence and mistreatment of blacks arrested for crimes in Blair’s articles? Attorney General John Ashcroft, Fairfax County’s attorney Robert Horan and others in law enforcement have had their reputations impugned by the Times’ printing Blair’s lies. Why was there no apology to them by the Times’ management?
After reading the 7900 word “Correction,” I was struck by what it reveals about the journalistic environment of political correctness Jayson Blair was in. First, he was chosen at least partly, perhaps largely, because of his race and immersed in the blatant political and journalistic bias of political correctness. Political correctness maintains that the police mistreat blacks. While that is almost always not true, a politically correct article will either say it or infer it. Then the police, not the accused, become the villain.
Even in foreign affairs, this politically correct view prevails, which is why the NY Times repeatedly criticized Bush, who wants to maintain International Law and Order, rather than Saddam Hussein, who has killed and tortured millions of people. Political correctness identifies Bush, not Hussein, as the villain It should not surprise the top management of the New York Times that Jayson Blair figured political correctness was more important to his bosses than journalistic integrity. In fact, had he written articles complimenting John Ashcroft and the work of Virginia’s prosecuting attorney when two black men were involved, I suspect the NY times editors would have scrutinized more carefully or not printed Blair’s articles.
But, the most damning evidence of the serious problems facing the N.Y. Times is illustrated by the reaction of people who never were interviewed but were quoted by Blair. They didn’t even bother to complain about it. Most of them were not even surprised by Blair’s lies. The Lynch family just laughed about their non-existent tobacco fields and cattle.
The reason why so many people have stopped reading the NY Times is because they don’t believe they are being told the truth. Editors and columnists cannot turn this around simply by dumping all the blame on a young black reporter who took their policy of political correctness to its logical conclusion.
To comment: mmostert@bannerofliberty.com