School's Response to Jayson Blair Plagarism

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ 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

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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.........




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