Top New York Times editors quit
cnn.com
From Rose Arce and Shannon Troetel
CNN
Thursday, June 5, 2003 Posted: 2:26 PM EDT (1826 GMT)
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The two top editors at The New York Times have resigned in the wake of a reporting scandal, the newspaper announced Thursday.
The editors, Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd, had been particularly criticized for their roles in the scandal surrounding the reporting of 27-year-old Jayson Blair, who quit the paper May 1.
In a news release, the newspaper said Joseph Lelyveld, 66, former executive editor of The Times, has been named interim executive editor, assuming the jobs of both men.
Blair resigned after a Texas newspaper questioned whether he had plagiarized a story about the family of a U.S. soldier missing in Iraq. The Times ran a multipage self-examination of how the reporter managed to stay on staff after multiple errors and editors' suspicions that his reporting was fraudulent.
Raines, 60, led the paper to seven Pulitzer Prizes last year -- several for the Times' comprehensive coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Neither he nor Boyd, 52, would comment on their resignations.
Shortly after Blair left the paper, another reporter, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg, quit after the newspaper published an editor's note saying Bragg had written a story based largely on the reporting of a free-lancer who received no credit.
Staff members of the Times learned of the shakeup at 10:30 a.m. in a newsroom gathering that lasted about 20 minutes, a newspaper spokesman said. Raines spoke first, then Boyd, then publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., who declared: "This is a day that breaks my heart," according to a story on the newspaper's Web site.
Raines told the dozens of reporters, editors, photographers and other newsroom staff members -- some openly sobbing -- "Remember, when a great story breaks, go like hell," the Times story said.
Both he and Boyd then left the building.
Blair responded to the resignations in a two-sentence e-mail to CNN: "I am sorry to hear that more people have fallen in this sequence of events that I had unleashed. I wish the rolling heads had stopped with mine."
Contacted by CNN at his home in New Orleans, Bragg, the author of two memoir-style books, said, "I can't say anything for the record. Right now, it would just be so stupid to say anything for the record."
"Howell and Gerald have tendered their resignations, and I have accepted them with sadness based on what we believe is best for The Times," Sulzberger, the publisher, said in the news release.
"They have made enormous contributions during their tenure, including an extraordinary seven Pulitzer Prizes in 2002 and another this year. I appreciate all of their efforts in continuing the legacy of our great newspaper.
"I am grateful to Joe Lelyveld, an editor of superb talents and outstanding accomplishments, for his willingness to provide strong journalistic leadership as we select new executive and managing editors.
"While the past few weeks have been difficult, we remain steadfast in our commitment to our employees, our readers and our advertisers to produce the best newspaper we can by adhering to the highest standards of integrity and journalism. For nearly 152 years, The Times has devoted itself to this mission. With the efforts of our outstanding staff, we believe we can raise our level of excellence even higher." (Full statement)
Lelyveld, Raines and Boyd also were winners of Pulitzer prizes and other awards for their work as reporters, authors and, in Boyd's case, editor.
Lelyveld served as executive editor of the newspaper for seven years before retiring two years ago and has been a freelance writer ever since.
Raines, author of the acclaimed 1977 history of the civil rights movement "My Soul is Rested," has been executive editor since then. He had been bureau chief in Washington and London prior to assuming the post.
Lena Williams, the Times' Newspaper Guild representative, said the resignations were "directly traceable to Jayson Blair. There's an anger out there. We are angry that this singular individual has brought this chaos and disorder to his colleagues.
"He's impugned all our reputations and there are people here who feel that if Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd had done their jobs, this Jayson Blair thing would not have happened."
Williams said she did not agree that Raines and Boyd could have stopped Blair but said the staff, which is "very, very sad," this all has happened, believed the two editors had been unapproachable as managers and that they bore the ultimate responsibility for the scandal. |
