Affirmative action in the newsroom

Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post on the case of Jayson Blair, the New York Times reporter who published at least three dozen fraudulent news stories in the newspaper of record. Kurtz shows how the Times’ top editors “failed to heed one red flag after another while promoting Blair to national reporter.” He also presents evidence that Blair was promoted, notwithstanding the warnings of the paper’s metropolitan editor, because top management wanted to promote African-American reporters like Blair as part of a commitment to diversity.

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