Screw working as a legit media talking head. I’m waiting for him to turn up as a writer and “senior executive media analyst” on The Daily Show. His “talents” seem well suited to the show. Besides he has experience pretending to be places that he really isn’t:
Jayson: Thanks, Jon. I’m reporting to you from Osama Bin Laden’s hidden cave headquarters on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border and…
Jon: No you’re not, Jayson! You’re in a TGI Friday’s across town, you hit me up for cab fare two hours ago!
Jayson: That’s where you’re wrong, Jon. Al Qaeda has disguised this cave as a TGI Friday’s for their own protection. Bin Laden knows that the US would never bomb…Hey, can I get some more potato skins here! That the US would never bomb what appears to be a thriving franchise bar and restuarant during these difficult economic times.
Jon (Supresses a giggle): Okay, Jayson, I see I was wrong. We brought you to the show because of your distinguished career of accurate and factual reporting. I’m sorry. Please continue.
Jayson: Thanks Jon, that means absolutely nothing to me. Now as I was saying…
Times suspends Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Rick Bragg
By HOWARD KURTZ
The Washington Post
The fallout over the Jayson Blair debacle at the New York Times has hit a far more prominent Times reporter, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg.
In an editor’s note Friday, the paper said that Bragg had only briefly visited the Florida town of Apalachicola, from which he filed a story last June, and that most of the reporting had been done by a stringer. That freelance reporter, J. Wes Yoder, should have shared a byline with Bragg, the paper said. …
Well… I never expected Howell Raines to resign. I figured he’d try to ride out the storm.
It’s the right move. The buck had to stop with him, and now it has. I applaud him for doing the honorable thing.
And now… I hope the Times can put this issue to rest, and regain its reputation. Even those of us who gag when we read their editorial page know that the Times is America’s pre-eminent newspaper, and it’s in everyone’s interest that they get their act together.
One on hand, it is too bad that Raines and Boyd have been pulled down by the actions of this asshat. On the other hand, to attempt to restore the level of integrity that the NY Times is held to, it feels like the correct thing to do. I wish more executives did the same thing.
As for Jayson Blair - there is clearly something damaged about him. His initial actions were not only awful, but the sign of something being more than a little “off” about him. His subsequent statements/interviews have only further confirmed that - he seems to not be able to understand what he did and how it reflects on him and his employer. Given how “off” he appears to be, I am amazed he was able to function within the context of the Times for as long as he was. That is the main reason, I suppose, that it makes sense that Raines and Boyd resign - the work environment they established and maintained was one that enabled a whackjob like Blair to get and keep a job for far too long.