Jayson Blair

Jayson Blair (born 1976) is the former New York Times reporter who admitted to journalistic fraud after it was found that he had faked quotes, plagiarized from other newspapers and submitted false expense reports to make it appear that he was travelling the country reporting.

The scandal of Blair, an African-American, was suggested by some commentators to be a negative consequence of affirmative action; many believed that Blair's numerous promotions were solely based on his race.

Several months before his exposure and resignation in June 2003, Blair covered such high-profile cases as the Washington DC sniper, but there is no evidence that he went to Washington, DC to cover the case, nor did he go anywhere in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Blair also claimed to have interviewed the parents of former Iraqi prisoner of war Jessica Lynch. The interview was later found to have been entirely falsified. Lynch's parents said that they never spoke to Blair and that he made references in his article to "nonexistent tobacco fields and cattle". [1]

The Times called the incident "a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper" and has admitted to 36 instances of journalism fraud committed by Blair. Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd both resigned about a month after Blair over the scandal.

Blair authored the book Burning Down My Masters' House: My Life at the New York Times (ISBN 193240726X), released on March 6, 2004. Blair is an alumnus of the University of Maryland, College Park.

References

"N.Y. Times Uncovers Dozens Of Faked Stories by Reporter." Washington Post. May 11, 2003.
"New York Times executives Howell Raines, Gerald Boyd resign." Associated Press. June 5, 2003.