Jayson Blair really rubbed me the wrong way. The whole time, he came off as proud of what
he did. He’s quoted saying “It’s not
rocket science. It was easy to take a
piece from this story, a piece of this story and a piece of this story and no
one even noticed.”
I feel that he described his substance abuse issues and mental illness of Bi-polar disorder to gain sympathy and it really seemed to be a cop out to me. He took a huge downward spiral, just spinning his web of lies and he continuously tried to save his own butt by lying.
He had countless opportunities to come clean and tell the
truth. I have no sympathy for someone
who had the chance to do the right thing multiple times and continued to lie
instead. Jason Blair was surrounded by
people who had his back, and would have helped him. His mentor, Jerry Gray was very sympathetic
and protective of him.
To fabricate not only once, but also time and time again is
inexcusable. It wasn’t a one-time
mistake, but a chosen lifestyle of lies.
I’m shocked that he lied the way he did.
Claiming he had spoken to people he had not, saying he had been places
when he had not even left his apartment in Brooklyn.
Blair, in my opinion, is the perfect reason as to why people
don’t trust the media. He lied in 36 out
of 74 stories, or at least that was what was confirmed. Jason benefited from this whole situation by
writing his book, and that’s when I lost any compassion I still had for him.
The fact that people blamed the editors and other staff,
made me very disappointed. I understand
they’re supposed to be held to a higher standard, but how were they supposed to
fact check on every single employee and keep everyone truthful and honest.
Especially when all they expected of their employees was to
just be normal human beings and be honest and accountable. Why would they ever assume that one of their
employees would lie this much?
In the end, the Times’ editors did admit guilt for the part
they played in it by not watching closely enough.
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