| Nightline
May 15, 2003 Troubled Times TERRY NEAL, WASHINGTONPOST.COM
You're just pushed to find, you know, the next young hot, person. And I think editors decide that accuracy problems are a small price to pay.
CHRIS BURY, ABC NEWS
It is important to know that he lied.
HOWARD KURTZ, "THE WASHINGTON POST"
He had plagiarized other newspapers, that he hadn't been in the cities where he said he was.
CHRIS BURY
It is important to know that he committed massive fraud.
ALEX JONES, JFK SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT, HARVARD UNIVERSITY
It's too easy to cheat. It's too easy, with cell phones and e-mails and anonymous sources.
CHRIS BURY
It is important to know that management failed to stop him.
HOWARD KURTZ
They had a chance to stop this guy, kind of a journalistic suicide bomber, before he struck again.
HOWELL RAINES, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "NEW YORK TIMES"
This system is not set up to, catch someone who sets out to lie and to use every means at his or her disposal to put false information into the paper.
CHRIS BURY
But, is it important to know the color of his skin?
TERRY NEAL
The second his picture was shown, we knew that, the issue would quickly turn into one of race.
PROFESSOR MANNING MARABLE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Many people will come away with the impression that the true bad guy in this story is affirmative action.
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CHRIS BURY
Tonight, "Troubled Times," the Jayson Blair story.
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ANNOUNCER
From ABC News, this is "Nightline." Reporting from Washington, Chris Bury.
CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) One young writer fabricates quotes, invents entire organizations, and commits elaborate journalistic fraud. Another relatively inexperienced reporter plagiarizes from his peers, makes up scenes out of whole cloth, and disgraces his newspaper. One is black, one white. The white writer, Stephen Glass, has parlayed his journalist sins at the "The New Republic" magazine into a book deal and a prime time television appearance. The black reporter, Jayson Blair, is suddenly being pilloried as the personification of affirmative action out of control. That Blair worked at "The New York Times," the most prestigious American newspaper, certainly has everything to do with the attention his case has drawn. And that his boss, the paper's editor, is quoted today acknowledging that race did, at some level, factor into Blair's rapid rise at "The Times" only inflames the debate. But no one asked how the race of the white journalist, Stephen Glass, may have contributed to his career advancement. And the dynamics of what went wrong at "The New York Times" are hardly a clear-cut case of black and white. Later we'll turn to a panel of distinguished journalists. But first, some background from ABC News correspondent Bob Jamieson in New York.
BOB JAMIESON, ABC NEWS
(Voice Over) It was an unprecedented sight, hundreds of "New York Times" staff members lined up to get into a movie theater in Times Square, near the nation's most storied newspaper, to express their views in an unfamiliar forum. The town meeting was convened by publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr, and executive editor Howell Raines, once an object of both fear and admiration, now an object of criticism and anger. On Sunday, in 14,000 words spread across five pages, "The Times" admitted a widespread failure of journalism but defended management oversight. The unprecedented article accused Jayson Blair of frequent acts of journalistic fraud, widespread fabrication and plagiarism on some of the biggest stories in recent months.
ALEX JONES
This is a different kind of mistake. This is a dishonest, mistake. And there have been people fired in the past for, you know, piping quotes and things like that, but certainly nothing remotely on the scale of Jayson Blair.
BOB JAMIESON
(Voice Over) In the "Times" newsroom, the 27 year-old Blair was a popular figure. Charming, ambitious, hard working, a good edgy writer. He joined the "Times" in a largely minority intern program in 1998, before being hired as an intermediate reporter in 1989, and a full reporter in 2001. Blair began getting coveted national assignments last year, even though six months before he was making so many serious errors he was warned his job might be in jeopardy.
TERRY NEAL
You know, there's this push to find, you know, the next young, hot person. and I think, editors decide that accuracy problems are a small price to pay for the big scoops and stories that these reporters are getting.
BOB JAMIESON
(Voice Over) In those national stories, Blair provided vivid descriptions and riveting accounts from places as far away as Texas. Problem was, he often never left New York. The "Times" Sunday account cited a report after the rescue of Army Private Jessica Lynch. On March 27th, Blair wrote a moving story datelined West Virginia, describing Lynch's father choked up as he stood on his porch, overlooking the tobacco fields and the cattle pasture. The porch, the "Times" said, overlooks no such thing. Blair never went to West Virginia, never interviewed Lynch's father. Another story cited by the "Times" was the sniper killings in suburban Washington. Despite his youth and lack of experience, Blair was assigned to the story which gripped the nation for weeks. Some of Blair's stories had serious flaws. One of which prompted an unusual public denunciation from a Virginia prosecutor.
BOB JAMIESON (CONTINUED)
(Off Camera) Almost half of the 73 national stories the "Times" checked so far had errors or fabrications or plagiarism. Yet, it was not someone within the "Times" who finally brought the fraud to an end. It was someone from outside, from a much smaller newspaper.
BOB JAMIESON (CONTINUED)
(Voice Over) On April 29th, the "San Antonio Express" accused the "Times" of plagiarism in Blair's article about the anguish of a missing soldier's mother. And editors finally discovered the deceit. Why not before? Howell Raines, who, when editor of the editorial page, often called for accountability from institutions from Enron to the Vatican said this.
HOWELL RAINES
This system is not set up to, catch someone who sets out to lie and to use every means at his or her disposal to put false information into the paper.
BOB JAMIESON
(Voice Over) But there had been plenty of danger signs. More than a year ago, metropolitan editor Jonathan Landman sent an e-mail to newsroom executives saying, "we have to stop Jayson for writing for the Times right now."
SETH MNOOKIN, "NEWSWEEK"
This was a guy who is writing for the "New York Times" for five years. So when they continue their investigation, I think we're all gonna continue to be shocked at the amount of fabrications and plagiarisms that got in what has long been thought of as the most respected paper in the country.
BOB JAMIESON
(Off Camera) Management failure or something else? Critics of affirmative action say the "Times" problems are the result of an effort to promote diversity, that Blair's errors were overlooked because he is African-American. And Raines himself added to the debate.
BOB JAMIESON (CONTINUED)
(Voice Over) In that town meeting, Raines told his staff, "does that mean I personally favored Jayson? Not consciously. But you have a right to ask if I, as a white man from Alabama, with those convictions, gave him one chance too many by not stopping his appointment to the sniper team. When I look into my heart for the truth of that, the answer is yes."
PROFESSOR MANNING MARABLE
I think it's clearly a failure of management that is color coded as a failure of race.
BOB JAMIESON
(Voice Over) Professor Manning Marable of Columbia University writes frequently about race.
PROFESSOR MANNING MARABLE
And so, many people will come away with the impression that the true bad guy in this story is affirmative action. And that's a distortion of the facts and the evidence. And once again, perhaps the "Times" has got it wrong.
BOB JAMIESON
(Voice Over) The accusation that Blair got ahead and stayed ahead because of his race has triggered an angry debate among journalists.
WILLIAM MCGOWAN, AUTHOR
Well, I think it's about affirmative action, it's primarily about negligence, gross negligence, on the part of "Times" ranking editors. But I think that gross negligence is rooted in two things associated with the diversity crusade.
TERRY NEAL
The second his picture was shown we knew that, the issue would quickly turn into one of race. And it's sad that at this day and age we still have to answer for, I have to answer for, I even have to be on this show to answer for something that another guy did.
ALEX JONES
He got those second chances because he was perceived to be a guy with energy and ambition and with talent. And the problem was, the "Times" didn't realize they were dealing with a guy who was, in some deep place, dishonest. And I think that that was where the error was. It was the error of judging a human being, not someone who's black.
BOB JAMIESON
(Voice Over) Some staff members of the "New York Times" left the meeting encouraged that management vowed to do what it could to see this never happens again. But the damage is not only to "Times," it has touched diversity in the newsroom and all of American journalism. For "Nightline" this is Bob Jamieson in New York.
CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) So, are there lessons to be learned about affirm action from the story of Jayson Blair?
MARK WHITAKER, "NEWSWEEK"
Clearly he had a track record of sloppiness and inaccuracy that should have raised warning signals.
CONDACE PRESSLEY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK JOURNALISTS
Oftentimes, the best solution is, when you mess up to fess up and move on. And clearly that is something that did not happen in this situation.
CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) That conversation, when we come back.
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ANNOUNCER
This is ABC News "Nightline." Brought to you by . . .
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CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) We invited the top editors of the "New York Times" to appear on tonight's program. They declined. We're joined now by Mark Whitaker, the editor of "Newsweek" magazine since 1998. Condace Pressley, the president of the National Association of Black Journalists, and the assistant program director for WSB radio in Atlanta. And Howard Kurtz, the "Washington Post's" media reporter. He has been covering the Jayson Blair story for the paper. And Mark, what does the race of Jayson Blair have to do with either with his journalist sins or the failure of the "New York Times" to find them?
MARK WHITAKER
Well, I don't think race has much to do with, with how, the problems that he had and the, the plagiarism and so forth. I mean, clearly, I think that had to do with one individual who's clearly very troubled, didn't have a sense of journalistic ethics, and, and really created, you know, a huge abuse. I think where it comes into it is the question of how he was managed and whether the "Times," which like a lot of us, you know, has a real commitment to diversity, pushed him along a little bit too fast and a little too far, didn't ask some hard questions when clearly he had a track record of sloppiness and inaccuracy that should have raised warning signals.
CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) Howard, you have been covering this story, there is any hard evidence that in fact the "Times" did push him ahead faster because of his race?
HOWARD KURTZ
Chris, I nearly got my head taken off by some black journalists when I suggested on television two weeks ago that a middle-aged white journalist with 50 corrections in three and a half years and this kind of checkered record might not have been treated so leniently by his bosses. I think even now the "Times" editors acknowledge that race was a factor. I don't think that, you know, the lies and fabrications of one pathological reporter should be used to discredit affirmative action efforts, as some people are trying to do for political reasons. But the fact is, and the reason we're talking about the racial aspect here, is that it wasn't just that Jayson Blair was brought along rather quickly for a 27 year-old reporter. It was that there was so many instances where there were warning signs and red flags and negative evaluations and e-mails from editors saying, this guy was doing substandard work. And the fact that the "Times" failed to come to grips with this is what raises the perception, at least, of a double standard in some people's minds.
CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) Yeah, but Condace, that perception, a lot of my colleagues here and I assume some of yours are asking the question, well, why can't this be treated just as the story of a deceptive reporter who wasn't caught in time by his editors and his peers and not paraded as an example of diversity programs somehow run amok?
CONDACE PRESSLEY
Well, first to Howard's point, Chris. A middle-aged white guy reporter with an error rate that high would not still be working at the "New York Times," he would be working someplace else of would have been bumped down. As for why we continue to talk about race in this issue, it's because it's easy for everyone else to do and it is a diversion from the fact that our industry, journalism, still lacks the kind of diversity, the, additional voices in America's newsrooms to tell the stories of a growing diverse population. It's much easier to talk about Mr. Blair as being a hot shot reporter run amok, who was a black hot shot reporter run amok, than it is to talk about the much greater issue.
CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) Mark, would be talk about this, the racial background of a white reporter who perhaps got ahead because he was in the right country club or graduated from the right Ivy League school or palled around with certain of his white bosses?
MARK WHITAKER
Well, the fact is, you know, you talked about Stephen Glass, and I think a lot of the factors that were present in the Stephen Glass case were also true here. I mean, this guy, he was a good writer. You know, he produced hot stories, he was also a champion schmoozer, expert at, office politics. And I think all of that would have been part of the story whether he was white or black. But I don't think we should say that we, this isn't an occasion to talk about, about diversity and affirmative action, because I think it's a very good opportunity to talk about how to do it right. I don't think the "Times," in this case, necessarily did it right. But I think there are ways to do it right, and this is an important opportunity to talk about them.
CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) I think we're all agreed that race is not the only factor here. There are other dynamics. And we won't to talk about some of those when we come back in just a minute.
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CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) Back again with Mark Whitaker, Condace Pressley, and Howard Kurtz. Howard, there was a meeting yesterday among the "New York Times" staffers and editors. And as I understand it, the rage at that meeting had nothing to do with diversity, really, but rather, the management culture at the "Times."
HOWARD KURTZ
The anger at that meeting, Chris, was simply remarkable for a place like the "New York Times," with a very rigid hierarchy. And a lot of it directed at Howell Raines and what some are calling his autocratic management style, feeling that he doesn't listen. He himself told his assembled staff that, I know many of you view me as inaccessible and arrogant. And there was a lot of simmering resentment that really broke through here. Why? Because, you know, when I first started working on this story two weeks ago, when nobody had heard of Jayson Blair, it took a couple of days of working the phones and some database searches to discovered that he had plagiarized other newspapers, that he hadn't been in the cities where he said he was. He never left New York, he didn't go to Ohio and Texas and Maryland. And so, the question then becomes, how is it possible that the "Times" editors were so insulated, despite e-mails from the people at the metro desk saying, Jayson Blair should no longer be allowed to write for the paper, that they didn't get it, that they didn't stop him, that they didn't jump on it sooner? And that's, I think, why we saw so much emotion and resentment directed to the top editors of the paper.
CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) Was it possible, Condace, that he was just a charming, smooth operator and it had more to do with that than the fact that he was African-American?
CONDACE PRESSLEY
I think absolutely because one thing that has been greatly overlooked, throughout all of this discussion is not the discussion of Mr. Blair's race, but that of his youth. He'd come into the "Times" on an internship. They asked him if he wanted to stick around for an extended internship. He said, I'd love to, but I've gotta go back to school. So he goes back to school, comes back to the "Times." And as I read in the newspaper on Sunday, someone at the "Times" said, well, we assumed he'd graduated but nobody ever checked that. Again, as Mark and others have said, there were certainly a number of management failures here. A host of a number of things that did not go right at the "Times" which I think also contributes to that great anger that was felt at that meeting yesterday.
CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) Mark, you're the only one in senior management there on panel. And one of the things that the "Times" reporters were complaining about was this star system, where things that some reporters did were overlooked, those favored reporters, that other reporters might not have been able to get away with.
MARK WHITAKER
No, absolutely. I mean, I think since Howell Raines started as editor about a year and a half ago, I mean, he's been known and been very public about a few things that he wanted to see as hallmarks of, his stewardship. One is, you know, a higher standard of writing, more colorful writing. Another is what he calls the "flood the zone" theory of how you do stories. You put as many reporters on them as possible. He's also been known to have his favorites within the paper. And I think all of those aspects of his management style played into this story and were responsible for him, their assigning Jayson Blair, a still relatively inexperienced and error-prone reporter but who had good personal relations, who was a good writer, on a story where they wanted to flood the zone.
HOWARD KURTZ
But even if Jayson Blair was one of the favored few, as he clearly was, you had the amazing incident in the Washington sniper case where he was parachuted into DC, to work on that very sensitive story, wrote a piece that the prosecutor, local prosecutor of Virginia, the next day, called a news conference to denounce as dead wrong. And even then, with that kind of pressure and scrutiny applied to Jayson Blair's work, the "Times" continued to assign him to sensitive stories. Howell Raines even sent him an e-mail saying, great shoe leather reporting. So I think Raines' management style is coming under such attack right now, even by his own staff, because of those kinds of mistakes, where they had a chance to stop this guy, kind of a journalistic suicide bomber, before he struck again.
CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) Has the management, Condace, done an adequate job of owning up to its own failures?
CONDACE PRESSLEY
I was just thinking, as you were completing that thought, I'm a manager at the radio station where I work in Atlanta, and oftentimes we do make mistakes and at every level of the operation. Oftentimes, the best solution is, when you mess up, to fess up and move on. And clearly, that is something that did not happen in this situation.
CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) Well, we heard in the "New York Times" account on Sunday, Mark, in that exhaustive documentation of how this happened, one of the sentences came from the publisher who said, we're not here to demonize anyone. Seemed to be letting themselves off the hook.
MARK WHITAKER
Yeah, I think this is another thing that I think people are very angry about is that the possibility that somebody might have to pay a price for this seems to have already been precluded before they've really, before everything has come out and they've done a, complete investigation of what happened.
HOWARD KURTZ
And imagine, Chris, if this had happened at some government agency or large corporation that the "Times" was covering. I think we can imagine the editorials about accountability and whether or not any heads should roll. And that I think, they've laid out a lot of fact and they're, to be commended for that. They've stepped up to the plate on that but not in terms of assigning responsibility for the senior executives who, by their own admission, allowed this to happen.
CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) Are you suggesting just a bit of hypocrisy there?
HOWARD KURTZ
Maybe just a bit.
CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) We need to pause just a moment for a short break. And we'll be back with our guests in a moment.
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CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) We're back again with Mark Whitaker, Condace Pressley and Howard Kurtz. Condace, do you worry that, fairly or unfairly, this whole episode may stigmatize African-American journalists?
CONDACE PRESSLEY
Yes, Chris, I do worry about that. I do worry that there are some 300-plus members of my organization who are under 30 and upholding the tenets of journalism very well everyday. And I know that they are just terrified that their editors are going to look at them in a different way because of this incident. So, what we have to hope is that this incident does, not have not any more of a negative impact on those young journalists, regardless of ethnicity, than it already has had.
CHRIS BURY
(Off Camera) Mark, how does this affect our viewing public and our, reading public beyond the "New York Times" and the East Coast?
MARK WHITAKER
You know, one of the things that's interesting in all of this is, you know, even as he was committing all these errors and making up stories and so forth, a lot of the people who knew the stories were wrong, the subjects of the stories, weren't complaining because they just assumed that newspapers and the press get things wrong all the time. And I think that's something that we in the press have to take very seriously. I think there is a credibility problem out there and it's something that we have to think about and work hard to address.
HOWARD KURTZ
Chris, this kind of deception, sadly, can happen in any news organization. It happened at "The Washington Post" 22 years ago with the Janet Cook fiasco which continues to be a stain on the paper's record. But to Mark Whitaker's point, the fact that people who were misquoted or never talked to Jayson Blair didn't complain is amazing. Just today, I interviewed somebody about yet another Jayson Blair fabrication, and said, well, I assume reporters spin things all the time. I think this hurts not just "New York Times," which obviously is going through a difficult period, but the reputation of all journalists. Because, it reinforces the notion among a public that already doesn't trust us, that we cut corners, that we make things up, that we perhaps are not the most truthful people around. And so, when a great paper like the "Times" is hurt but this sort of fabrication, serial fabrication I should say, the truth is, it hurts all of us in the news business.
CHRIS BURY
(Voice Over) Mark Whitaker, Condace Pressley, and Howard Kurtz. Thank you very much.
CHRIS BURY (CONTINUED)
(Off Camera) And that is our report for tonight. I'm Chris Bury in Washington. For all of us here at ABC News, good night. Copyright 2003 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. ABC News Transcripts |
