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American Morning

'New York Times' Editor Howell Raines Says He's Not Stepping Down

Aired May 15, 2003 - 08:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: "New York Times" editor Howell Raines says he is not stepping down in the wake of the scandal involving one of the paper's reporters, 27-year-old Jayson Blair. Raines told some angry staffers yesterday he believes he still has the capability to lead that paper. Jayson Blair, though, under criminal investigation for writing fraudulent stories, has definitely shaken up some employees there at the "Times."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

R.W. APPLE, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": People are very discouraged by this, but not down heartened.

QUESTION: Can the current group of editors stay in their jobs?

APPLE: That's way above my pay grade.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: The story broke over the weekend, four full pages in the "Times" edition on Sunday. And as the "Times" works to repair its injured credibility, Jayson Blair has reportedly hired a literary agent, as well.

Howard Kurtz, the media columnist for the "Washington Post," is our guest today from D.C.

Howard, good to have you on here.

What's been the reaction from the "Times" going forward right now?

HOWARD KURTZ, "WASHINGTON POST": Bill, this was an extraordinarily emotional meeting at the "New York Times" yesterday. One business reporter asking Howell Raines, the executive editor, if he would resign. An editor on the metro desk saying to his boss, you have lost the confidence of much of the newsroom. And Raines and his management team trying to get it back, engaging in what journalists would call damage control if politicians were doing it.

The damage is great, nobody denies that, at a great newspaper.

HEMMER: Howard, I know you're aware of some of the reports that have come out of this. Look at this e-mail from the "New York Times," internal e-mail back in April of 2002, just a bit more than a year ago. "We have to stop Jayson from writing for the "Times" right now." Come about a year later, May 12th, a few days ago. "This 27- year-old was given too many second chances by editors eager for this ambitious black journalist to succeed."

That's William Safire, a well known writer for the "New York Times." This is a company that has hundreds and hundreds of employees, not only in New York, but around the world.

Was there an explanation given as to how cases like Jayson Blair's slipped by?

KURTZ: They attempted to explain, but the fact is they made a lot of mistakes. Huge numbers of red flags missed here, not just that e-mail, but negative evaluation reports, 50 corrections by this young reporter, all kinds of complaints about his stories. When I started working on this two weeks ago, it took me just a couple of days to find five people, including Jessica Lynch's father and other parents of soldiers who were wounded or killed in Iraq, who were quoted by Jayson Blair who said I never talked to the guy.

HEMMER: Wow.

KURTZ: He was never in my town. He didn't come to Cleveland. He didn't come to West Virginia. This guy was faking the stories without leaving New York and that's what has caused so much of the anger and humiliation at the "Times," not just that a rogue reporter could do this, because it has happened at other news organizations, but that so many clear warning signs, in retrospect, were missed by top editors.

HEMMER: Howard, I know on your show "Reliable Sources" you take a macro view on the world of journalism and the media. The "New York Times" did a commendable job for flogging itself publicly. But I'm curious to know from listeners and from viewers and from readers, in a broader sense, do they look at the media in a way that if there were skeptical before they have more reason to be skeptical now, not just of the "Times," but folks like us and other organizations, network news, etc.?

KURTZ: Bill, the truth is when something like this happens, it taints all journalists. Particularly minority journalists are worried about the fallout here, some sort of unfair guilt by association. And it reinforces those who don't like the press and says ah, they all make stuff up because here's a case where it did happen. It's going to take the "Times" a long time to recover from this damage. And the difference is the "Times" laid out a lot of the information, but if this had been a government agency, I think that we'd see editorials calling for some heads to roll and it looks at the moment that Howell Raines is going to stay, that no heads are going to roll.

They still haven't fully explained how they missed all the warning signs here. This was an untested reporter with lots of problems and he was assigned to the Washington sniper case, some of the most sensitive stories in journalism. And he really humiliated the paper and so there's a lot to answer for here.

HEMMER: And on many of those stories that he wrote, possibly never even left Manhattan.

KURTZ: It's amazing.

HEMMER: Howard, thanks.

Howard Kurtz, host of "Reliable Sources" every weekend on Sundays, 11:30 a.m. right here on CNN.

Good to see you, Howard.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Stepping Down>


Aired May 15, 2003 - 08:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: "New York Times" editor Howell Raines says he is not stepping down in the wake of the scandal involving one of the paper's reporters, 27-year-old Jayson Blair. Raines told some angry staffers yesterday he believes he still has the capability to lead that paper. Jayson Blair, though, under criminal investigation for writing fraudulent stories, has definitely shaken up some employees there at the "Times."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

R.W. APPLE, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": People are very discouraged by this, but not down heartened.

QUESTION: Can the current group of editors stay in their jobs?

APPLE: That's way above my pay grade.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: The story broke over the weekend, four full pages in the "Times" edition on Sunday. And as the "Times" works to repair its injured credibility, Jayson Blair has reportedly hired a literary agent, as well.

Howard Kurtz, the media columnist for the "Washington Post," is our guest today from D.C.

Howard, good to have you on here.

What's been the reaction from the "Times" going forward right now?

HOWARD KURTZ, "WASHINGTON POST": Bill, this was an extraordinarily emotional meeting at the "New York Times" yesterday. One business reporter asking Howell Raines, the executive editor, if he would resign. An editor on the metro desk saying to his boss, you have lost the confidence of much of the newsroom. And Raines and his management team trying to get it back, engaging in what journalists would call damage control if politicians were doing it.

The damage is great, nobody denies that, at a great newspaper.

HEMMER: Howard, I know you're aware of some of the reports that have come out of this. Look at this e-mail from the "New York Times," internal e-mail back in April of 2002, just a bit more than a year ago. "We have to stop Jayson from writing for the "Times" right now." Come about a year later, May 12th, a few days ago. "This 27- year-old was given too many second chances by editors eager for this ambitious black journalist to succeed."

That's William Safire, a well known writer for the "New York Times." This is a company that has hundreds and hundreds of employees, not only in New York, but around the world.

Was there an explanation given as to how cases like Jayson Blair's slipped by?

KURTZ: They attempted to explain, but the fact is they made a lot of mistakes. Huge numbers of red flags missed here, not just that e-mail, but negative evaluation reports, 50 corrections by this young reporter, all kinds of complaints about his stories. When I started working on this two weeks ago, it took me just a couple of days to find five people, including Jessica Lynch's father and other parents of soldiers who were wounded or killed in Iraq, who were quoted by Jayson Blair who said I never talked to the guy.

HEMMER: Wow.

KURTZ: He was never in my town. He didn't come to Cleveland. He didn't come to West Virginia. This guy was faking the stories without leaving New York and that's what has caused so much of the anger and humiliation at the "Times," not just that a rogue reporter could do this, because it has happened at other news organizations, but that so many clear warning signs, in retrospect, were missed by top editors.

HEMMER: Howard, I know on your show "Reliable Sources" you take a macro view on the world of journalism and the media. The "New York Times" did a commendable job for flogging itself publicly. But I'm curious to know from listeners and from viewers and from readers, in a broader sense, do they look at the media in a way that if there were skeptical before they have more reason to be skeptical now, not just of the "Times," but folks like us and other organizations, network news, etc.?

KURTZ: Bill, the truth is when something like this happens, it taints all journalists. Particularly minority journalists are worried about the fallout here, some sort of unfair guilt by association. And it reinforces those who don't like the press and says ah, they all make stuff up because here's a case where it did happen. It's going to take the "Times" a long time to recover from this damage. And the difference is the "Times" laid out a lot of the information, but if this had been a government agency, I think that we'd see editorials calling for some heads to roll and it looks at the moment that Howell Raines is going to stay, that no heads are going to roll.

They still haven't fully explained how they missed all the warning signs here. This was an untested reporter with lots of problems and he was assigned to the Washington sniper case, some of the most sensitive stories in journalism. And he really humiliated the paper and so there's a lot to answer for here.

HEMMER: And on many of those stories that he wrote, possibly never even left Manhattan.

KURTZ: It's amazing.

HEMMER: Howard, thanks.

Howard Kurtz, host of "Reliable Sources" every weekend on Sundays, 11:30 a.m. right here on CNN.

Good to see you, Howard.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Stepping Down>