New York Times Top Editors Resign Following Plagiarism Scandals

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, June 06, 2003

New York Times Top Editors Resign Following Plagiarism Scandals

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

New York Times Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd have resigned from the influential paper over a month after plagiarism and fabrication scandals, the paper announced Thursday.

Joseph Lelyveld, who retired as the paper's executive editor when Raines took over in September 2001, has been named interim executive editor. An interim managing editor will not be appointed,sources said.

"This is a day that breaks my heart," Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger said at a meeting Thursday morning. Without mentioning the Jayson Blair scandal, Sulzberger thanked Raines and Boyd for putting the interests of the newspaper first.

Raines and Boyd both made statements at the meeting, drawing applause from the audience.

Criticism has been mounting against Raines and Boyd since Blair's resignation on May 1 after he was found making up facts and plagiarizing from other sources in dozens of stories, undetected by his editors.

Last month, the Times revealed that an internal investigation found fraud, plagiarism and inaccuracies in 36 of 73 articles Blair wrote as a national correspondent for the paper between October and April. Despite the misgivings of a few editors, the 27-year-old African-American reporter was promoted and his misdeeds went unnoticed.

The scandal was followed by last week's resignation of PulitzerPrize-winning reporter Rick Bragg after he was suspended for usingan intern's notes for a story without attribution, though he denied his actions violated the paper's policy.

The Blair scandal put the credibility of the 152-year-old paperinto question and triggered a sweeping internal probe into the Times' management and editorial policies and practices.

Sources familiar with the paper said that even before the scandals, Raines' top-down management style and his alleged practice of favoritism had under widespread criticism among Times staffers.

Raines, 60, a former chief for Times Washington and London bureaus, was editor of the editorial page for eight years before taking the top editorial position just days before the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The paper won in 2002 a record seven Pulitzer Prizes, mostly related to its coverage of the attacks.

Raines also won a 1992 Pulitzer for a memoir he wrote for the New York Times Magazine about his childhood friendship with his family's black housekeeper in Alabama.

Boyd, 52, was named managing editor in 2001, after serving as deputy managing editor and assistant managing editor.

Questions?Comments? Click here

E-newspaper Fined for Plagiarism

Homeway Follows Sina.com to Accuse Sohu.com of Plagiarism

Embarrassment Caused by Inter-linked Plagiarism

Efforts Urged to Frame China's Long-time Plan on Science,Technology ( 7 Messages)

Global Warming Troubles Qinghai-Tibet Railway Construction ( 7 Messages)

US Planning Historic Shift of Military Power Abroad: Report ( 26 Messages)

'Haven't got lost!': China's 1st SARS Patient out of Shadow ( 3 Messages)

Hu, Bush Pledge to Further Develop Constructive Ties of Cooperation ( 6 Messages)

G8 Meeting Urged to Highlight Water Issue in Africa ( 9 Messages)