I think it benefits the NYT to say that this situation was the result of their affirmative action policies. They are subtly forwarding the idea that even though he was a known plagarist and liar, the Times kept him on because they wanted to promote diversity in the newsroom.

The reason for doing this is to protect the reputation of this guys editor and to stop people from saying, "Hey, if this guy so blatantly violated journalistic ethics, how many other people at the Times are doing the same thing and just haven't been caught?"

I don't think we're anywhere near the end of this story.

It's a pity he didn't keep the journalist alive and just kill himself. The media has enough bias, without asshats like this just making shiat up.

I am Jayson Blair's total lack of remorse.

The sad part here is that he'll make money on the book/movie deal.

"As a member of the black race, I am officially embarrassed by this no talent assclown's deception."

And I, as a member of the no-talent assclown race, should prepare a seat of honor at the corner of the round table for this guy. ;-)

There's a no-talent assclown race? Who's winning?

*rimshot*

I normally do not like it when people nominate PS contests within a news thread but I cannot resist... I think we should have a PS of this asshat's photo. I think I am gonna fire up PS soon (actually have real work to do first) and have a little fantasy fun with this farktard.

He should not have had the job in the first place if the NYT was vigilant in their hiring process. This tool never graduated!

You don't need a degree to get a job as a reporter.

"I was either going to kill myself or I was going to kill the journalist persona," he said. "So Jayson Blair the human being could live, Jayson Blair the journalist had to die."

Sounds like the tag line to that movie "Face-Off"...to be him youmust become him...putz.

"I don't see how race is an issue here."
Blair was hired as part of an affirmative-action program (the Times itself has admitted that it "offered him a slot in an internship program that was being used to help the paper diversify its newsroom")....there is little doubt that Blair would never have been hired in the first place but for his race, and he certainly would have been fired long ago.


"[N]ot only was Blair not stopped, he was promoted to the national staff and ultimately given more responsibilities. Why? The answer appears to be precisely what the Times denies: favoritism based on race. Blair is black, and the Times, like other media organizations, is intent on achieving diversity."

once he got into trouble, Blair was coddled and promoted rather than severely disciplined or dismissed. The Times, which has so few young, male, African American stars, wasn't about to let this one crash and burn. "We wanted him to succeed," a supervisor of Blair said. Maybe that desire was fueled because Blair was so personable, productive and savvy. Or maybe it was fueled by something else -- white liberal guilt. The answer is probably both."

And if you still don't believe any of that, how about Taking it from the horse's mouth: "'Anyone who tells you that my race didn't play a role in my career at The New York Times is lying to you, Mr. Blair said." Of course, then poor little Jayson goes on to say that racism is reaally the culprit...


When quotas based on the color of a person's skin (and not the content of their character) are imposed, everyone is poorer for the decision; including, in the long run, the affirmative action hirees themselves, who are frequently thrust into positions they aren't prepared for (i.e., a person who would do OK at a state university flunkinging out of Harvard or MIT because they were only allowed in due to "Affirmative Action").

I just had a vision of John Lovitz in black face... "This is Tony, no, Jayson Blair reporting from....Maryland, yeah, Maryland, that's the ticket."

Jayson Blair is a stupid ass who should be forgotten as quickly as possible. I hope he ends up living on the street, maybe then he'll actually get to experience something for himself without reading about it somewhere and copying it.

This man should not be rewarded (by publicity, book buying) for being such an asshole.

Just curious, how did race get into this? I mean, anyone can be a dickless, no talent, ass-clown.

I won it already. See the "false arrest from AZ" thread.

"There's a no-talent assclown race? Who's winning?"

Well, Blair is off to a good start but he's got some catching up to do: Britney, Carson Daley, SherKhan; the field is pretty strong this year.

Let's redo the first one, as the link didn't come out right and, unlike Mr. Blair, I have no desire to plagerize someone else's work, even unintentionally:


Blair was hired as part of an affirmative-action program (the Times itself has admitted that it "offered him a slot in an internship program that was being used to help the paper diversify its newsroom")....there is little doubt that Blair would never have been hired in the first place but for his race, and he certainly would have been fired long ago.

ModernHamlet,

I'm against both the "good ole boy" network, and affirmative action. In a perfect world, actual qualifications would be all that employers took into consideration for jobs.

However, for the record, the "good ole boy" network screws more than just minorities. It screws over pretty much anyone who isn't of their social circle. That includes whites.

So, we have an unofficial, but highly effective policy to get rich white people into job positions. We have an official, fairly effective policy to get minorities into job positions.

Where's the policy to get average white people into job positions?

If we're going to have policies to get some groups jobs, we need to be equal and have policies to get ALL groups jobs.

Okay, first things first...a choad is the region between the balls and anus...also known as a taint. Now, chode, a subtle homonym, is a penis that is larger in diameter than it is in length. A choad is the "fleshy fun bridge" connecting Ballstown, NY, and Poopchute, NJ. A chode means someone is hung like a can of tuna.

Secondly, I really, really, really get pissed off when people who lie look at the people they deceived and say something like "Man you people are stupid!" Why is that? Because you told them something deliberately intended to deceive, obfuscate, and confound? Man, yeah, they're so stupid. That's like calling people with cancer stupid for dying. It's a simple cause and effect relationship. I think it speaks highly that people initially trusted this man, only to find later that he was a dirty whore. And then he plays the race card? You were trusted, and I think that says a lot. There was no one looking for a reason to get rid of the black journalist, but he certainly gave them a reason, and now he claims it wasn't his own fault but that he was of a different color. I wouldn't shiat in this guys mouth if his teeth were on fire.

Thirdly, a king's ransom to the man that finds an email address for that publisher...a feast of the finest fishes of the sea, beasts that roam the land, and fowl that soar the skies for him that doth give us an outlet for our righteous rage. Or at least the thanks of me and many others here, I'm sure. I'm so sick of everyone being a farking victim, and no one being responsible for anything.

That's why I blame the quality of management

I don't think that quality of management is always to blame.. I have a friend in management who wanted to fire this girl who did nothing and HR made him collect all sorts shiat to prove she was doing nothing and creating more problems then fixing.. on top of having to provide written warnings and other bullshiat so she couldn't come back and say she was fired because she was a woman. This extended her time at the company for another 3 or 4 months. While she still didn't do shiat.. and on the off chance she did.. it ended up being farked up and requiring someone to come in and spend twice as long fixing the problems. Where as if it was me.. It would of been a whole other ballgame.

Sure management is a pain.. but in corp. setting I think they get bogged down with HR bullshiat... especially when you want to try to keep a good PR face; so you have bullshiat like what my friend had to go through..for the " Just in case. "

I'd have preferred that the journalist lived...

Cass,

Just curious, how did race get into this?

Because this dude's editor admitted that the affirmative action policies were the reason this guy was kept on.

The race thing seems to be the least interesting aspect of this story. I think the changing culture of the NYT newsroom since Howard Raines took over is much more interesting. Read about it, and not just in the context of the Blair debacle. Keep in mind, this is a HUGE farking newsroom. The Village Voice's Press Clips column has been covering Raines' tenure very well over the past year.

Again, I stand by my previous affirmative action statements. So far, nothing good has come from it. Even most blacks hate the idea that the government accepts them as inferior. I got my law job becuase I was a good lawyer. I got into college because my SAT score was high. I took it in both English and Spanish and got nearly the same score. It disgusted me to hear from people that got accepted into my college because they were black/hispanic. Affirmative action is just a policitally correct form of racism.

And MSNBC blew their editorial wad by stopping the MCI/Glover thing instead of stopping this idiot's book deal?

/seeking justice

"Thirdly, a king's ransom to the man that finds an email address for that publisher...a feast of the finest fishes of the sea, beasts that roam the land, and fowl that soar the skies for him that doth give us an outlet for our righteous rage."

Wow. Nice.

As he usually does, Hendrik Hertzberg has good things to say about the Blair affair

I'd love to be the NYT's attorneys right about now.

I'd have a petition alleging all sorts of things against this guy in one hour, a TRO in place the hour after that.

Mortis: And plaguerism. You stole my shamalamadingdong!

Kpar90:

You stole it from Odis Day and the Knights!! You are only accusing me because I am an Italian/Irish/Jew.

"...a person who would do OK at a state university flunkinging out of Harvard or MIT because they were only allowed in due to "Affirmative Action"

I work at MIT, and I see this happen all the time..all those white kids who are unprepared to compete with all the Asians.

Good call, demitrius.

But honestly, what did this guy do that other journalists don't? Get caught.

A feast for BURNEDBYGREATWHITE! Bring forth the virgins and the humorously dressed midgets! An abundant Bacchanal in their honor!

Flavorflanks: "apology as a for-profit industry" *BANG* Nail head meets hammer.

***The Times found fraud, plagiarism and inaccuracies in 36 of 73 articles examined between October and April***

He worked for Fox news?

Ok, this weird. Are people pissed because he's of African heritage, or because a liar? How can you possible care what colour he is? The guys a 10lb bag of shiate in a 5lb bag.

Personally, I don't like being called white. I'm not white. White is the color of toilet paper, bondo photocopier paper, and snow. I'm more of a pinky, browny, light caramel color myself. You can't be white unless you're dead..and even then you're kind of a yellowish colour. Black is the absence of light. You can be dark brown. Really, really dark brown, but isn't it impossible to be completely black?

This prick lied. That should be the point of the argument. Don't buy his book. Someone sue him (it's the states after all, you guys sue at the drop of a hat)..Isn't everyone sick of making issues out of colour. Crap it's the freakin' 21st century people. Move on already.

So when does this guy start at Fox?

Man, I lost out on humourously dressed midgets........that sucks.

SadDad wrote:
"Someone sue him (it's the states after all, you guys sue at the drop of a hat)"

I'm consulting with my lawyer about the possibility of pursing litigation concerning your above entry.

Good call, Yotta. They could use someone with his integrity....

Banky

Your consulting your lawyer offends me, so I'm going to sue you.

This discussion would have a lot more legitimacy if one were to remember that the concept of "race" is not "fact" (Blair would know about nonfacts), but a social construction with absolutely no biological basis.

Why Banky. Did someone drop a hat?

And the worst part is, Mortisthecat, that these midgets are experts at slapstick, tumbling, dressing like children, scuttling about, weeping about their small stature, and various other traditional forms of midgetry. Oh, and they can fly short distances, even though their detractors claim it's actually just "gliding".

I second Banky_The_Hack's definition of the word choad. I think of it as the male equivalent to a taint.

Now that someone posted that he was hired, even through his own admittance, based solely on affirmative action, I have to agree that this does seem to be a good case against affirmative action.

This man didn't do what he did because he is black, he did it because he's a dumbass. However, he was put in a position to do what he did because he is black.

You'd think that in an era where profit and the almighty dollar are said to be the motive for everything, nothing would keep you employed except for competence and talent at what you do.

Having been employed at companies of various sizes for almost 10 years, I for one can truly say that this is simply not the case. I have seen woefully incompetent not only kept on but actually promoted, while hard-working people who knew what they were doing have gotten fired for being "troublemakers" (i.e. pointing out those who weren't earning their keep, and getting fired by those very people).

It's easy to blame it all on either race or affirmative action, but I can tell you that this sort of "business schizophrenia" occurs for a much vaster array of reasons which have nothing to do with skin color... like a boss trying to cover his own ass, or not wanting to have people under him smarter or more knowledgeable than he, etc. Business processes are one thing, but in the end it's up to humans to actually administer those.

Hopefully his book will quickly make it to the top of the "fiction" category on the New York Times list.

Yes, clevershark, I totally agree. It has more to do with ego and stop-gag solutions than AA.

It IS just gliding! All that limb-flapping is for show and has no effect whatsoever on trajectory or velocity.

/sourgrapes

Then explain to me how they can increase their altitude in the absence of updrafts!? EXPLAIN IT TO ME!!!!

Oh, and I don't think that Laura Tucker works for them anymore, she was eventually fired for claiming that she had brought on Michael Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, and Liza Minelli to write tell-all biographies about Elizabeth Taylor. She's currently being interviewed by the NYTimes about her firing.