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Editorial: Blair matter will hound Times for months, years The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune May 13 There is little question that most Americans, journalists on other newspapers among them, admire the huge package of news delivered every day by The New York Times. ... But its vast newsroom on West 43rd Street and far-flung bureaus are populated by a multitude of superior editors and writers. The Times is famous for its enormous cash flow and its historic willingness to put most of it back into news-gathering. ... It's been discovered, very late in the day, that a 27-year- old reporter named Jayson Blair for years has been turning in creative fiction as news stories. Nor were they minor stories. They involved, among others, the Maryland sniper case and the thoughts of wounded soldiers who fought in Iraq. On Sunday the Times published a long "explanation" of how Blair lied about his whereabouts, invented quotes from people he never interviewed, described scenes he never visited, and made up so much stuff that one wonders why he ever entered journalism. ... But the explanation offered by the Times is far more elaborate than satisfactory. It is filled with contradictions, and one senses that the reporters and editors who prepared the explanation were under great pressure from the top to be frank, but not too frank. ... The Jayson Blair matter, on the other hand, has left a deep stain, and it will take months or years to scrub it out. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -