Jayson Blair's Book Not Selling Too Well

[CrimsonTide4]

from EURWEB.com

BURNING DOWN MY MASTER’S HOUSE:
That’s the name of Jayson’ Blair’s proposed book.


Jayson Blair
(May. 26, 2003) *Ex-New York Times Reporter Jayson Blair has got some serious problems.
First the man fabricates his news articles and gets caught, now he’s blaming his acts on “the frustrations of black men.”

According to the Washington Post, Blair and his literary agent, David Vigliano, are pitching Blair’s proposed book “Burning Down My Master’s House” to various publishers. The proposal allegedly promises to reveal the Times’ darkest secrets including charges of racism and drug use. Blair also implies that he purposely fabricated his stories in order to get back at the Times.

“Each one I got away with felt like a f— you to an institution that I had long ago lost any love for,” the Post reports.

Blair also compares himself to alleged DC sniper John Malvo saying the shootings show “how the frustrations of black men in this world can explode, crescendo into a huge rage that can manifest itself in some odd and sometimes unclear ways.”

Negro please. Why didn’t you just quit.

[Steeltrap]

This ran in the Orange County Register. But the author makes an interesting point -- basically called Blair an assimilationist and said the situation would never improve unless journalists of color are allowed to be themselves and not suck up.

By JULIO MORAN
Executive Director, California Chicano News Media Association, USC Annenberg School of Journalism


In his June 1 column ["Media troubles go deeper than Blair scandal," Commentary], Steven Greenhut is correct in saying that affirmative action is partially to blame for the Jayson Blair scandal. He also is correct that diversity in journalism focuses too much on skin color and surnames rather than on diversity of views.

But he is wrong in casting a wide net over affirmative action by saying it hurts journalism and those that it is supposed to benefit. Hiring in journalism is not yet at a level playing field for people of color, and affirmative action actually makes journalism better because in trying to make newsrooms look like the communities they are supposed to serve, the daily coverage is more accurate and pertinent.

Where affirmative action has failed in the news media is where white editors choose to hire journalists of color who act like them and who think like them, rather than those who have different views. Instead of being encouraged to share their views or challenge the way things have always been done, journalists of color who express themselves are often labeled as trouble-makers and eventually either get fired or leave the industry in frustration.

Unfortunately, journalism - especially newspapers - is still run by older white men who have little exposure to the changing demographics in this country, and, in particular, in this state. Diversity programs are still the only way most journalists of color get hired, especially if they act and think differently. While people of color make up 31 percent of the overall population, they are only 12.5 percent of newsroom employees, according to a 2003 survey by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

Mr. Greenhut writes that affirmative action puts "ideological impulses above honest reporting." How honest is reporting when a newspaper ignores 30 percent to 50 percent of its population? How honest is it when a newspaper staff doesn't have a reporter who can speak a language other than English or understand cultures different than the American culture when its circulation area is nearly half foreign-born?

If Mr. Greenhut is going to blame affirmative action for the favoritism that Blair received at The New York Times, then he must also challenge the longtime practice of favoritism for young white reporters who cozy up to their superiors.

Journalists of color simply want a fair chance to compete. Most don't have a parent or relative who are friends with the editor or publisher. Many did not attend Ivy League or other private schools. But most do know their cultures and can tell compelling, honest stories about people in this country who happen to have different skin colors or speak a different language. And these talented, hard-working journalists, who abhor the things Blair did, also can write about white people and the American culture.

Blair is someone who never should have been hired at The New York Times regardless of his skin color. But he was allowed to advance his career because he said and did the things that made him more like, rather than different, than his white boss. Until journalists of color are allowed to be themselves in America's newsrooms, then, Mr. Greenhut, you are correct that our industry will lose even more credibility and readership.

[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."

[Steeltrap]

Racism. Junk food. Mental illness.

Let me start acting crazy so I can get a book deal.

Jayson Blair = you suck steaming hot low-budget a**

[lovelyivy84]

The name of his book should be:

AN ASSHOLE'S STORY: F*CKIN IT UP FOR EVERYONE!

[Strive]

His book will be on the best sellers list. I wonder will he tell his readers the real reason he deceived or LIED to the public OR will the book be about how to get a job without using ethics?

[33girl]

There is an article with Jayson Blair telling his story in the latest Jane magazine. If he's hanging out w/ Jane Pratt that's really not going to help his journalistic rep, LOL.

[Skeelicious1]

Originally posted by 33girl
There is an article with Jayson Blair telling his story in the latest Jane magazine. If he's hanging out w/ Jane Pratt that's really not going to help his journalistic rep, LOL.

I read that article, it came out about a week ago.. He is such a loser...

[ChaosDST]

Originally posted by Skeelicious1
I read that article, it came out about a week ago.. He is such a loser...

Yes, he is.

He's an embarassment and (in the minds of whites) he's discrediting the "struggle," word by word.

[OthelloStreet]

Originally posted by Strive
His book will be on the best sellers list. I wonder will he tell his readers the real reason he deceived or LIED to the public OR will the book be about how to get a job without using ethics?

So this is what I have to do if I want a 6 or 7 figure book deal... ain't that a bia bia?

Well, at least I have my integrity and my creativity.

[CrimsonTide4]

TV Film Planned on Disgraced Journalist Blair
Wed Oct 15, 9:14 PM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Disgraced former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, who built and ultimately destroyed his career by fabricating stories, is the subject of his own stranger-than-fiction tale in a TV movie coming to the Showtime network.



The premium cable channel said on Wednesday the film, a dark comedy tentatively titled "The Jayson Blair Project," will be based in part on articles by former Newsweek reporter Seth Mnookin, who recently left the magazine to write a book about the New York Times for Random House.


The project is being eyed for a premiere sometime in 2004, with Jon Maas on board to write the script. His previous credits include a recent made-for-TV movie about John F. Kennedy Jr. and the Showtime production "The Last Debate," which starred James Garner (news).


No casting decisions have been made, said network spokesman Bryan Byrd.


The Blair project would depart from the typical journalism-themed films, in which "a reporter gets his story against amazing odds," Showtime Entertainment President Robert Greenblatt said in a statement.


"This film will explore what made Jayson Blair so self-destructive and how his actions single-handedly destroyed his journalism career," Greenblatt said.


Byrd said producers "reached out" to Blair to seek his voluntary participation in the movie but have not heard back from his representatives. In any event, he said, Showtime was not looking to option Blair's rights.


"What's been optioned is the Newsweek article," Byrd said.


Word of the Showtime project comes a month after Blair signed a book deal reportedly worth about $500,000 with New Millennium Books for a memoir about his experiences, titled "Burning Down My Master's House: My Life at the New York Times."


Blair, who is black, has cited racism, junk food((WTH?!?!?!?)) and mental illness as the reasons for having invented scores of stories and sources during his four years at the nation's most influential newspaper.


He quit the paper in May after his fabrications came to light, touching off a scandal that resulted in the resignation of the Times' two top news executives -- managing editor Gerald Boyd and executive editor Howell Raines. The Times also published a 14,000-word account of Blair's fabrications and installed its first standards editor.

[Steeltrap]

Originally posted by CrimsonTide4
TV Film Planned on Disgraced Journalist Blair
Wed Oct 15, 9:14 PM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Disgraced former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, who built and ultimately destroyed his career by fabricating stories, is the subject of his own stranger-than-fiction tale in a TV movie coming to the Showtime network.



The premium cable channel said on Wednesday the film, a dark comedy tentatively titled "The Jayson Blair Project," will be based in part on articles by former Newsweek reporter Seth Mnookin, who recently left the magazine to write a book about the New York Times for Random House.


The project is being eyed for a premiere sometime in 2004, with Jon Maas on board to write the script. His previous credits include a recent made-for-TV movie about John F. Kennedy Jr. and the Showtime production "The Last Debate," which starred James Garner (news).


No casting decisions have been made, said network spokesman Bryan Byrd.


The Blair project would depart from the typical journalism-themed films, in which "a reporter gets his story against amazing odds," Showtime Entertainment President Robert Greenblatt said in a statement.


"This film will explore what made Jayson Blair so self-destructive and how his actions single-handedly destroyed his journalism career," Greenblatt said.


Byrd said producers "reached out" to Blair to seek his voluntary participation in the movie but have not heard back from his representatives. In any event, he said, Showtime was not looking to option Blair's rights.


"What's been optioned is the Newsweek article," Byrd said.


Word of the Showtime project comes a month after Blair signed a book deal reportedly worth about $500,000 with New Millennium Books for a memoir about his experiences, titled "Burning Down My Master's House: My Life at the New York Times."


Blair, who is black, has cited racism, junk food((WTH?!?!?!?)) and mental illness as the reasons for having invented scores of stories and sources during his four years at the nation's most influential newspaper.


He quit the paper in May after his fabrications came to light, touching off a scandal that resulted in the resignation of the Times' two top news executives -- managing editor Gerald Boyd and executive editor Howell Raines. The Times also published a 14,000-word account of Blair's fabrications and installed its first standards editor.

CLOWN!

[CrimsonTide4]

NBC's Couric to interview Blair

NBC News' Katie Couric will talk to disgraced former New York Times
reporter Jayson Blair in his first extended television interview since
leaving the newspaper last year. Blair will appear on "Dateline" on March
5 and live on "Today" on March 8, NBC said. The "Dateline" story will
also include interviews with industry experts about how the scandal has
affected journalism. (Staff report)

[AXEAM]

No need to stone the man ....after all what he did was kinda the American way ...screwup big tell a bunch of lies then write a book,as far as whites viewing him as a hinderance to the struggle come on now.I'm sure if they check back in history Blair was not the first person to do such a thing.

[Steeltrap]

JMO.

I am a LEGITIMATE JOURNALIST with 15 years of experience. I've been in this field off and on since 1987. And people like Jayson Blair make it harder for journalists of color, who already work under a microscope in many places.

So that's why I get angry at Jayson Blair and the system that allows azzclowns like him to get in at the New York Times, fabricate stories, and now profit off his simple bulldung.