Journalists of Color Strike Back on Blair
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Journalists of color who have the platforms are responding to an attempt by a number of pundits and other white journalists to turn the Jayson Blair scandal into an assault on diversity efforts.
On the “To the Point” show on Public Radio International Monday night, Keith M. Woods of the Poynter Institute journalism think tank was asked if the documentation of plagiarism and fabrications at the New York Times by Blair, 27 and African American, can be traced to diversity efforts. Woods replied that the critics’ only “evidence” is that Blair is black.
That seemed to be enough for a number of commentators to presume diversity was the culprit, and editors ran that presumption, though one can wonder whether such “evidence” would have been accepted in other circumstances.
This morning on National Public Radio, for example, Marvin Kalb, former network correspondent now with the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, lectured:
“The Times believed in racial diversity. That is a good thing. But a reporter’s race ought not to be as crucial a consideration as his competence, honesty and integrity.”
In the Washington Post, syndicated columnist Richard Cohen, who some consider “liberal,” wrote: “Not only was Blair not stopped, he was promoted to the national staff [he was actually just detailed there] and ultimately given more responsibilities. Why? The answer appears to be precisely what the Times denies: favoritism based on race.”
The conservative Washington Times led a story on the issue with:
“The New York Times has become a case study on the effects of affirmative action in the newsroom since the resignation of Jayson Blair, a black reporter who left the paper May 1 under charges of plagiarism and fraud.” That, even though the story included the following quotes from the journalist of color associations:
“Suggesting Blair’s alleged actions reflect on the thousands of black journalists who daily uphold the highest standards of our profession is not only laughable and ludicrous, but also inaccurate and insulting,” said Condace Pressley, president of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Joseph Torres, spokesman for the 2,000-member National Association of Hispanic Journalists, called Blair’s infractions “unspeakable, regardless of race.” He added that “to equate diversity in the newsroom with lowering journalistic standards is false.”
“It is an unfortunate situation that Jayson Blair violated the fundamental rules of journalism. However, it is only happenstance that Blair is a journalist of color,” said Mae Cheng, president of the 1,700-member Asian American Journalists Association.
“His race did not play into his actions, and therefore other journalists of color should not be penalized for the errors of one individual,” she said.
Others joined the counterattack and made related observations.
- In an editorial in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today, the newspaper said that:
“The New York Times, like many other major newspapers, has had dozens of journalists of color join its prestigious staff through internships and focused recruiting. Many have had exemplary careers.
“On the other hand, there are several recent examples of white reporters and writers dropping knee-deep in their own scandals at such newspapers and magazines as The Boston Globe, The Salt Lake Tribune and the New Republic. The willingness to lie and deceive is not limited to any racial group.” The editorial page editor of the Journal-Constitution is Cynthia Tucker, who is African American.
- Wrote Farai Chideya on alternet.org:
“Journalism is like any profession. There are a smattering of people who make us look bad, including the reporter caught stealing gold from Iraq and the two paid $10,000 each by the National Enquirer for lying about Elizabeth Smart’s family. Many examples of journalistic misconduct never make it public. One minority reporter I know received a severance package because his boss, who was white, plagiarized his work. The supervisor was not fired, and the incident was not made public.”
- Loretta Green, San Jose Mercury News:
“If these people have a sickness, I wish them healing and a fresh path. But for the moment, in a selfish kind of way, I can only resent the black eye we are all taking from Blair and people like him who thought that it was OK to be dishonest.
“As readers, you expect us to tell you the truth and you deserve no less.”
- Eugene Kane, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
“For those ready to jump on his blackness to justify their own hard-hearted attitudes against affirmative action — I’ve already heard from some of you — there’s nothing in this sad tale to suggest black reporters working in Milwaukee or elsewhere need to hang their heads in shame.”
- Sheryl McCarthy, Newsday:
“People will use any scandal to showcase their grievances and promote their own agendas. . . . Blair’s experience offers no profound lesson about journalism or the people in it, other than this: From time to time there are sad stories like this one, because, for their own reasons, people mess up.”
“Contrary to what some believe, young blacks don’t usually waltz into jobs at The New York Times.”
- Courtland Milloy, Washington Post
Jerry Gray, an editor and mentor, reportedly told Blair that his appearance had become too ‘sloppy’ even for a newsroom — a standard so low that the young man must have looked like a bum.
That such obvious distress could so easily morph into a media feeding frenzy over questions such as “Are blacks receiving preferential treatment?” and “Is diversity a good thing?” reflects shortcomings far more pathological than those displayed by Blair.
“. . . Stopping his self-destruction should have been the main concern.
?Now that he has been hospitalized, Blair should be able to get his priorities straight. And I hope that by recalling the spirit of selflessness that he showed at the bake sale [where Milloy met Blair] 10 years ago, he will overcome.”
- Acel Moore, Philadelphia Inquirer:
“Blair’s dishonesty and fraud are his alone. They have nothing to do with other black journalists, or with the effort to increase their number. They reflect only his own personal lack of character and principle. To say he reflects badly on other blacks is to deny him the full responsibility of an individual, to treat him foremost as a representative of a group, not as a man who committed unpardonable acts.
“Blind ambition, pressure, drug abuse, mental illness — none of those excuses his trespasses. Blair has lost his credibility as a journalist and reporter, jobs he should never hold again.
“Of the approximately 55,000 journalists who work for daily newspapers, there are about 3,000 African Americans, among them some of the finest reporters, writers, photographers and editors in the business, including about 25 Pulitzer Prize winners.
“Those ethical and honest professionals best reflect the whole — not the Blairs and [Janet] Cookes who have failed.”
- Terry M. Neal, political writer at washingtonpost.com, outlined the transgressions of white journalists Ruth Shalit, Stephen Glass, Mike Barnicle and others, and noted:
“Some people are acting amazed that a reporter as young as Blair would be given such great opportunities — as though this sort of thing never happened with whites. But consider the case of Jodi Kantor, a white 27-year-old, with just four years of journalism experience who was hired away from Slate, a Web magazine, by The New York Times earlier this year to serve as the editor of its prestigious Arts & Leisure section. Kantor may be fabulous and do a remarkable job, but no minority has ever gotten a break like that in the history of American journalism.”
- Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune:
“Ironically, affirmative action in its mildest forms has brought about reforms like anti-nepotism rules and other changes that have leveled the playing field for many who previously were cut out of that privileged loop, including many white males, by their lack of important social connections. . . .
“It is important that the Times dig a little deeper and tell us, if race is not the reason for the Blair snafu, what is?”
- Brenda Payton, Oakland Tribune:
“Those of us in the newspaper business are baffled by his actions. He seems to have missed the whole point of being a reporter — going to the scene, witnessing the action, talking to the people involved. Being in the middle of a story is what makes this job unique and exciting. The challenge is to try to understand the reality and convey it to the reader. There is nothing like the rush and sense of accomplishment of tracking someone down, getting a good interview and shaping it into a compelling story. Making up stories presents challenges, but that’s another job, called fiction writing.”
- E.R. Shipp, New York Daily News:
“Blair was the kind of black guy who gets along well with the kind of white bosses who want to think of themselves as color-blind and committed to diversity — and the kind of black managers who have themselves played the charm game to advance their careers.
“Letting him get away with what he did is an insult to all journalists, but especially to those of us who are a distinct minority and who work our buns off trying to convince our bosses that we are capable of doing the job that they never imagined us doing.”
- Stan Simpson, Hartford Courant:
“If this conniving, fabricating, plagiarizing, disgraced former New York Times reporter plays his 15 minutes of infamy just right, he can make his first million by the time he’s 30.
“All he has to do is watch Stephen Glass. . . .He was a prolific purveyor of fiction, which he spun as fact and original reporting, duping magazines such as The New Republic, Rolling Stone and George.
“Glass is now publicly apologizing for his reprehensible behavior — and oh, by the way, don’t forget to read his new autobiographical novel ‘The Fabulist,’ available at a bookstore near you.”
- Elmer Smith, Philadelphia Daily News:
“Dozens of reporters at the Times, most of them much more qualified, were passed over for the kind of assignments that Blair got. Some of them were black.
“But they won’t be the ones you’ll hear about as this story gets kicked around for the next few weeks. They will bear the brunt of Jayson Blair’s dishonesty twice. It’s because of them that I take this so personally.”
In addition, NABJ issued a new statement: “What Jayson Blair did hurt all journalists, regardless of ethnicity or background. But for those critics of diversity to assert that Blair did what he did or got where he got solely because of the color of his skin is just plain wrong, myopic and lazy journalism,” said Condace Pressley, president of NABJ and assistant program director at WSB Radio in Atlanta. “And it ignores facts in other cases.”
The Society of Professional Journalists called for “a far bigger discussion of journalism ethics, by both journalists and the public.”
Unity: Journalists of Color, representing African American, Hispanic, Asian American and Native American journalists,said that “Blair’s race should never have been a factor in how his work was judged, and how his case was handled. And it is of no relevance in determining how hard media companies move forward in hiring more people of color. His recruitment, whether as a person of color or otherwise, takes nothing away from the necessity for diversity programs.
“In fact, it is at this very moment that efforts to diversify the media should be accelerated to erase once and for all the debate about why newsrooms need transformation.”
Lacy, Not Blair, Called Measure of Diversity’s Value
Pioneering sportswriter Sam Lacy, who helped integrate the major leagues, “was a link to a watershed moment in American history, and a mentor to black writers whose grandparents weren’t born when he began his crusade. One only hopes that when he passed, he knew that the chain he began wouldn’t be broken any time soon,” writes David Steele in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Writes DeWayne Wickham in USA Today: “The more I read about Jayson Blair, the more I think about Sam Lacy. Lacy’s 73 years of journalistic excellence, not Blair’s five years of unethical behavior, should be the measure of the value of racial diversity in the newsrooms of this nation.”
Lacy, the Hall of Fame sportswriter for the Baltimore Afro-American, became a trailblazer for journalists of any color, the Afro wrote. He died last week at age 99.
Services for Lacy are set for Friday at Zion Baptist Church, 4850 Blagden Ave. NW in Washington, according to a spokesman for the Baltimore Afro-American, where Lacy was sports editor. The wake is scheduled for 10 a.m. and the funeral from 11 to 12. Burial will be at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery.
