Jayson Blair

The person I chose to learn more about was Jayson Blair former writer for the New York Times. I found an article penned by several writers within the New York Times entitled, CORRECTING THE RECORD-Times Reporter Leaves Long Trail of Deception (2003). This article was published in May of 2003 and gives a description of what Mr. Blair did wrong, how it was discovered, and the ultimate consequence that was handed down to Mr. Blair. During Mr. Blair tenure, at the New York Times, Mr. Blair became very good at using his cell phone, articles in other newspapers, and sometimes even pictures to write his stories. According to the article, Jayson Blair had problems, early on, with sticking to the truth in writing and was caught several times within the first few years of fabricating stories (2003). He was soon put under the
Blair more responsibility they relented much to their detriment. Mr. Blair invented or embellished many details he used in his stories covering the sniper case. In one such story, he talked about local and federal law enforcement agencies fighting, which while true, was not completely accurate on what they were in disagreement about. One of the more serious stories that Mr. Blair wrote about on several occasions, was the story of Jessica Lynch the Private First Class that was captured and subsequently rescued during the war. Mr. Blair claimed to have interviewed the family, but according to the article, “Not a single member of the Lynch family remembers speaking to Mr. Blair” (2003). Mr. Blair was eventually discovered by not only his colleagues, but also the San Antonio Express News who raised questions of Plagiarism. There was a subsequent investigation, and according to the article, “…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”