[CrimsonTide4]

Disgraced Journalist Blair Signs L.A. Book Deal
Wed Sep 10, 7:22 PM ET

By Gina Keating

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Disgraced former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, whose plagiarism and inventing of sources brought down the newspaper's two top editors, signed a book deal worth about $500,000, a publisher said on Wednesday.



Blair, a black reporter who resigned from the Times in May, got a "mid six-figure" advance for the memoir, tentatively titled "Burning Down My Master's House: My Life at the New York Times," New Millennium Books President Michael Viner said.


Blair has cited racism, junk food and mental illness as the reasons that he fabricated scores of stories and sources during his four years at the nation's most influential newspaper.


After his departure, the Times published a 14,000-word account of his fabrications and installed its first standards editor. The scandal prompted the resignations of Managing Editor Gerald Boyd and Executive Editor Howell Raines, who said he championed Blair to promote diversity in the newsroom despite warnings about his work.


Viner described the half-completed work as "part memoir and part inside the New York Times" but declined to give more details about it. The book is set to be published March 9.


"It's a very good book ... I am in love with it," Viner, who heads New Millennium Entertainment with his wife Deborah Raffin, told Reuters. The couple formerly ran the now-defunct Dove Entertainment, which published books by figures involved in the O.J. Simpson (news) murder trial.


Because of Blair's reputation for fabrication, Viner said he planned to ensure the book would stand up to scrutiny.


"Jayson wants to make sure, as I do, that the book is above reproach and to that extent we have agreed on very top people in terms of fact checkers and editors," he said.


Attorney Michael Friedman, who frequently represents celebrities in tabloid defamation lawsuits, said Millennium has an enhanced duty to ensure that Blair's facts are facts.


"If you are on notice that the author lacks veracity then ... that requires the publisher to enhance its scrutiny and diligence in the matter," Friedman of Jenkens & Gilchrist in New York said. "You can't just say ... the author is a reliable source when the facts indicate to the contrary."