It’s been fashionable to mention Jayson Blair in stories about the meltdown at CBS. While his case of journalistic deception is fashionable to mention, not one of the major (or minor) mainstream media outlets bothered to contact him for his take on the CBS memo mess. Mark Hemingway of Rathergate contacted Blair and got the first interview with him. Here’s how he starts:
“My first reaction when a friend asked about the Dan Rather memo flap was to ponder whether anyone learned anything from the mess I got myself into. Nobody knows the value of credibility better than I do. I’d give up the book royalties if I could get my credibility and career back.”
Read the rest of Mark Hemingway’s exclusive interview Rathergate.
Another washed up media celebrity, Tina Brown, can’t help repeating herself. Susanna Cornett points out that Brown comes off bitter, shrill, and wrong.
Thanks for the pointer on this one, Kevin.
I agree with commenter #9:
“When Jayson Blair can dis you, you’re in sad shape.”
Why would I read an interview with someone who admits they no longer have any credibility? Did they go out to lunch at a restaurant where the cook admits he pisses in the soup?
Yeah, but even though CBS and Rather are a bunch of arrogant assholes, I don’t think they intentionally fabricated the story. I think someone else did the lying and they were too gullible to fact-check it and too eager to believe it.