Interesting People mailing list archives
School's Response to Jayson Blair Plagarism
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 03:39:38 -0400
------ Forwarded Message From: Jerry Levine || patchmonkey <patchmonkey () patchmonkey net> Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 01:27:08 -0400 To: dave () farber net Subject: School's Response to Jayson Blair Plagarism This was posted on the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland web site: http://www.journalism.umd.edu/newrel/03newrel/nytimesblair03.html Dean Thomas Kunkel Statement on New York Times Plagiarism Case For Immediate Release May 12, 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------- To our Journalism students, alumni and friends: Over the weekend the New York Times published its findings into Jayson Blair's reporting record. A more devastating indictment can scarcely be imagined. Like you, I have watched this story unfold with spiraling sadness, dread and, truth be told, anger. What I originally hoped would be an isolated lapse instead turned out to be calculated fraud and deceit on a massive, perhaps unprecedented, scale. While Jayson's actions diminish everyone in journalism, we feel it more acutely here at Maryland because of our personal connection to him. Because of that connection, please indulge me a few more thoughts about this situation. Let me start by saying that I don't know what causes anyone to engage in such shattering and self-destructive behavior. We will just have to wait for Jayson to explain himself. I hope he steps up and offers that explanation, and does so today. He owes that much to his readers, to the Times, to the subjects of his discredited stories, and to every scrupulous journalist who has gone before him and who will follow. Even so, no explanation can possibly excuse what is, at the end of the day, a breathtaking and pathological failure of personal integrity. Could the Times have been more vigilant? Of course. The paper's own multi-page confessional details a veritable parade of red flags that were raised over Jayson's performance there. But whatever its supervisory shortcomings in this instance, the Times can never be accused of ambiguity as to its expectations of journalistic integrity. Truth has been its bedrock; trust has been its currency. Jayson knew the rules. He knew the rules when he was here, too. Does that mean we did everything we could with Jayson when we had him? Of course not. That is probably true of every student here. But again, it must be said that no program in the country stresses professional ethics more than we do or takes a harder line on integrity. Our students know this well, but for others, here are just some of the ways we incorporate ethics throughout the curriculum. We deal with it extensively in J100, the orientation course. There are specific ethics modules in every section of J201 (beginning reporting), J202 (beginning editing) and J320 (advanced reporting). We now require of all our students a separate three-credit course, J300, on journalism ethics. And our standardized grading methods reflect industry standards. As you alumni will remember-perhaps with a shudder-any fact error (up to and including the misspelling of a proper name) triggers an automatic F for the assignment. And any confirmed case of plagiarism or fabrication triggers an automatic F for the course AND a recommendation by the dean to the Honor Council of expulsion for that student. The point is, we treat journalism integrity incredibly seriously, and we always have. (snip) ... Jerry Levine ................. www.patchmonkey.net [personal] ... jerry () onimedia net ........... www.onimedia.net [media] ... jlevine () umd edu .............. www.gaijeans.com [high fashion] ... patchmonkey () patchmonkey net .. .......I don't want life to resemble art. I want life to BE art......... ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- School's Response to Jayson Blair Plagarism Dave Farber (May 13)