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Jayson Blair and racism in journalism
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By Mike Cuenca | May 26, 2003
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The association of race with Jayson Blair's journalistic ethics lapses
is totally fallacious and reveals the deep-seated consensus of racism
in our society and in journalism specifically.
Race has nothing to do with Jayson Blair's transgressions. After
discovering these lapses, why was it so easy and so automatic for so
many journalists around the country to jump to the conclusion that his
race was an issue? After all, Blair did not commit these offenses
alone. Not one untrue word of any article he ever wrote should ever
have been printed on paper. If the newsroom of the New York Times
worked as it should, his lies and fabrications would have been caught
by the first editor who read the articles.
The responsibility for these transgressions lies ultimately with the
New York Times. The publisher of the Times is white. Did anyone jump to
the conclusion that he created the newsroom climate that allowed these
lapses because he is white? The executive editor of the Times is white.
Did anyone jump to the conclusion that the failure of his subordinates
happened because he's white? Most of the editors in the Times newsroom
are white. Did they fail at their jobs because they're white?
The journalists and others around this country who have immediately
jumped on Blair's race in this debacle reveal the institutionalized
racism in our society and in journalism. Automatically associating
Blair's race with his transgressions requires placing Blair as a
journalist in a group based on his skin color: black journalists. Then
assuming that his transgressions occurred because he was a black
journalist is a generalized, racist assumption that someone who is
black is more likely to have made these mistakes. On the other hand,
many white journalists have been hand-slapped for similar or worse
transgressions—even right there in the New York Times newsroom—without
a word that their lapses reflected a tendency toward ethical violations
among all white journalists.
Institutionalized racism in journalism is a part of what Blair has
talked about in his post-outing interviews, but that is a separate
story from his own lack of personal integrity. On the other hand, his
ethical lapses and his lack of integrity reflect the widespread
degradation of journalistic ethics and practices throughout the
industry--an industry dominated by white males.
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