Jayson Blair and fake news at N.Y. Times circa 2003

All the lies fit to print in massive NY Times scandal

Jayson Blair

July 31, 2003: A report examining problems at the New York Times blasted the newspaper for a lack of communication, but downplayed the push for racial diversity as a leading factor in its massive Jayson Blair plagiarism scandal.

The 94-page report said it's "simplistic" to believe promotion of minority reporters like Blair was the essential cause of the calamity.

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"The fraud Jayson Blair committed on us and our readers was not a consequence of our diversity program, which has been designed to apply the same rigorous standards of performance we demand of all our staff," Bill Keller wrote  in 2003 on his first official day as executive editor.

"The problem is, in the Blair case, we failed to measure up to those standards at numerous steps along the way."

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