Our View
Jayson Blair, the New York Times reporter who left the paper
after being accused of lying, plagiarism and making up sources and
stories, signed a book deal with New Millennium Press earning the
disgraced reported a mid-six-figure advance, according to a USA
Today article.
“There are hard-working journalists out there who are never
going to see that payday,” said New York Times columnist Clyde
Haberman in the article.
We could not agree more with Haberman. There are journalists,
from huge metro papers to small county papers, who work hard to
deliver the truth who come home with paychecks that will never
equal to the paycheck Blair will receive for lying and destroying
the reputation of the journalism profession.
Blair is being rewarded for misleading and lying to readers who
trusted and counted on newspapers to give them the facts and the
truth. It seems that there is no profit in telling the truth in
journalism. Every man and woman who chooses to make journalism his
or her profession knows there is not a lot of money in it. The job
requires long hours, fast-approaching deadlines and harsh public
criticism. But also there is the honor of civil reward and great
responsibility.
Blair didn’t only tarnish the reputation of one of the world’s
largest newspaper but the his trail of destruction trickled down to
his college newspaper, The Diamondback out of the University of
Maryland. The college paper is now dealing with the backlash of
Blair serving as editor in chief.
It is a sad commentary on our society to see people like Blair
cash in on his scandal that made people question more about what
they read in print. We would have rather seen Blair fade way into
nothing. Its comforting to know that New York-based publishers,
whose books live or die with New York Times book reviews, show
little interest in Blair’s book, according to the same USA Today
article.
Hopefully people will ignore the memoirs of this public
plagiarist. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward got book deals for
their nation-changing reporting; surely there are other journalists
out there who deserve book deals before Blair.
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