The Plagiarism Scandal That Rocked The New York Times

Somehow Jayson Blair was able to steal others work several times before being caught

Photo by Andres Oropeza on Unsplash

Jayson Blair was a rising star in the world of journalism in 2003. His pieces were some of the most talked about in the United States. And he was a major part of The New York Times reporting team, a team that won multiple Pulitzer Prizes.

He was known for his charm and wicked sense of humor. His rise to being a star reporter at “Old Lady Grey” didn’t shock most people. Though, there were some people side eyeing his career. It seemed almost unreal.

Blair was often praised for being able to get into any institution and come away with information from both sides of a conflict. His ability was uncanny, and some believed superhuman. It was part of what made his articles so brilliant.

Until the truth came out.

Those people who were detractors often wondered how Blair was able to find the information that no one else could. They wanted to know what sort of unethical behaviors he was using to create the brilliant articles that became the talk of the world.

But most people wrote off the questions as nothing more than jealousy from reporters and journalists that wished they were in Blair’s position. It was not uncommon for people in the industry to wish they had a better job or desire a position with The New York Times.

However, those who were not Blair fans would be proven right. The New York Times National Editor James Roberts would begin an investigation into plagiarism and fabrication that would shock everyone.

And create a scandal that would leave a permanent mark on the reputation of The New York Times.

---

When people think about plagiarism, they generally think that it is copying someone’s work word for word and passing it off as their own. That is one type of it, arguably one of the most common types. But there are more nuanced ways that someone could be accused of plagiarism.

For instance, if someone sees an idea in a piece that they believe came from their own work. This is very difficult to prove, though, some people have had success in proving it. Including investigators that looked into the situation with Blair.

Another and more common type of plagiarism is not properly crediting or paraphrasing quotations. This happens when a writer is trying to tell their story but fails to credit the source or person they got the quote from.

All of that information came from the APA style handbook.

The plagiarism came to the attention of Roberts by an editor at the San Antonio Express-News, according to the Baltimore Sun. There was concern that a story written on April 26, 2003, was very similar to one published by Macarena Hernandez less than a week prior.

It was staggering how similar the two pieces were in tone and word choice.

An investigation was launched to see if there were any other articles that Blair wrote that might have been plagiarized. There were, and some of it was far worse than what The New York Times staff had considered.

Some of the articles were completely fictitious.

---

As it turned out, Blair decided to create travel schedules and quotes in some of his pieces. This was sometimes on top of plagiarizing other sources to help promote this notion that he was one of the best reporters working at the time.

Each new development shock and dismayed the editing board. They were so sure that the star reporter was on the up and up that the investigation was supposed to be just to prove that he was good.

But those people who didn't like Blair had good reason. A report from Gale Academic stated that the star reporter was known to fabricate stories during his time at the University of Maryland paper. At the time, his editors kept an eye on him but didn’t offer any sort of punishment or deterrent for the behavior.

Later, some of his fellow students would write a letter condemning his actions.

Shortly after the investigation wrapped, Jayson Blair resigned from The New York Times. His departure shocked those that did not know what was happening. But that would not last for very long.

On May 11, 2003, The New York Times carried a more than 7,000-word story about the entire incident. They laid out all of Blair’s lies and deception. Article by article, they revealed just how far his scheme had gone.

The editors and writers of the piece called it "a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper."

The New York Times bounced back from the scandal. Many believe it was because they did not shy away from what happened, rather they laid it out for the public to see.

Jayson Blair did not face criminal charges, though prosecutors were reportedly thinking about charging him with wire fraud. The Stanford Law Magazine said that the charges would have likely stuck, and a conviction would have been inevitable given The Times’ own investigation.

But would have sent a chilling message to every journalist. Don’t make a mistake.

Blair went onto finish his college degree. He also wrote a memoir, in which he revealed substance abuse issues. After cleaning up his life, he helped others do the same.

He also ran a group for people with bipolar disorder.

In 2024, he began The True Crime Times Substack. He already has more than 2,000 subscribers.

Blair and The New York Times have come a long way from the plagiarism scandal that nearly topped both entities.