Former U. Maryland student, New York Times reporter committed ‘journalistic fraud’

(U-WIRE) COLLEGE PARK, Md. – A New York Times reporter and former Diamondback editor in chief “committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud,” including stealing material from other newspapers, inventing quotes and lying about his whereabouts, according to an investigation conducted by The Times.
The review found problems in at least 36 of the 73 articles written by Jayson Blair from the time he began receiving national reporting assignments in late October to his May 1 resignation. The Times described the episode as “a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper.”
Blair, 27, “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,” according to a story the Times published yesterday.
The 7,500-word story, which ran on the front page and carried over to four full inside pages, was accompanied by an editor’s note apologizing to Times readers and a detailed account of articles in which falsification, plagiarism and other problems were discovered by a team of Times reporters and researchers.
“I can’t remember anything like this anywhere from the ‘Bayside Bugle’ to the New York Times,” said Thomas Kunkel, dean of the journalism school.
Kunkel said he plans to send a memo to all journalism students and faculty about Blair today.
The Times cited several reasons for not detecting the problems with Blair, including “a failure of communication among senior editors; few complaints from the subjects of [Blair’s] articles; his savviness and his ingenious ways of covering his tracks.”
Blair attended the university, but did not graduate, and joined The Times in 1999 after an internship the previous year. He could not be reached for comment.
“I’m shattered,” Kunkel, said. “It’s devastating for everyone — everyone in journalism feels betrayed and obviously, we feel it more acutely because we know Jayson so well… And I’m angry, and everyone’s angry.”
Blair’s name was removed last week from the college’s alumni Web site. Blair will also be edited out of the college’s promotional videos and his photo and stories heretofore proudly displayed in the journalism school will be taken down, Kunkel said.
Associate Dean Chris Callahan, who knew Blair well when he was a student, was more personally affected by the Times’ report.
“I’m f—ing pissed off,” Callahan said.
In a letter sent to The Times and read to The Associated Press after his resignation, Blair blamed “personal issues” and apologized for his “lapse of journalistic integrity.”
The review began after the editor at the San Antonio Express-News pointed to similarities in an April 26 piece by Blair and a story that appeared in the Texas paper a week earlier.
The investigation showed that while he was filing stories from around the country, Blair was often in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, even filing expense receipts from stores and restaurants there.
Blair had just moved to the sports desk when he was sent to the newspaper’s national desk to help cover the Washington sniper shootings. National editors said they were not informed of Blair’s earlier performance problems.
“By March, he was lying in his articles and to his editors about being at a court hearing in Virginia, in a police chief’s home in Maryland and in front of a soldier’s home in West Virginia,” said The Times story.
The Times said its investigation was “focused on correcting the record and explaining how such fraud could have been sustained within the ranks of The New York Times.”
The college will also investigate the pieces Blair wrote for Capital News Service, a wire service the college runs.
“The thing that’s so heartbreaking about this is that all he ever wanted to do was be a journalist. This diminishes everyone — Jayson most of all,” Kunkel said.