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Dec 11th 2006, 07:19 AM
Plagiarist reporter back in business
By Jessica Heslam
Boston Herald Media Reporter
Sunday, December 10, 2006
After a humiliating plagiarism scandal that rocked the New York Times [NYT], Jayson Blair is quietly resurrecting his journalism career by writing about the very subject he says brought him down: Bipolar disorder.
Blair, 30, has been lending his expertise to 3-year-old bp (bipolar) magazine. He wrote a first-person piece about bipolar disorder and the role it played in his downfall that bp magazine ran last year.
“It went through a very rigorous editing process,” said Editor Nancy Tobin. “We just have a very rigorous editing process and a great deal of fact checking.”
Tobin admits she was skeptical of Blair at first. “When I first got a call from Jayson Blair I was very surprised,” said Tobin, who didn’t know he’d been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Before he wrote for them, Tobin said she “made very careful verfications that he was who he said he was” and had him fax her his diagnosis from his psychiatrist’s office.
“I was not a fan of Jayson Blair or what he had done,” Tobin said.
But after spending a lot of time talking with Blair and having him outline his story, the magazine agreed to publish it. “If we weren’t going to publish his story, what good where we?” asked Tobin, pointing out that the publication is about the disorder - and recovery.
Blair, who agreed to talk to the Herald via e-mail, said he’s also among several dozen writers and others bp editors routinely turn to for feedback. He continues to pitch them stories but had to quit working on a second piece earlier this year because he said he “was not up to doing a fully reported piece.”
When asked if he worries that people might think he is plagiarizing again, Blair said, “Why concern yourself over something you cannot control? The bottom line is that if it rings true, it will reach people.”
Blair “doesn’t think” he’ll ever work for a newspaper again but last year he wrote an editorial on bipolar awareness for the weekly Virginia newspaper, The Centreville Times.
“I can imagine doing those things,” Blair said.
Blair wrote about the death of his dog for the recent Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance newsletter. He says he’s currently working on a writing project but can’t talk about it.
Published in 2004, Blair’s memoir about the Times scandal sold only 4,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan.
The single Blair says he’s self-employed and working full time in a “profitable retail business.” He’s also working toward a college degree in business communications.
Shortly after the scandal, Blair, who also plagiarized while working at the Boston Globe, was diagnosed as bipolar, and he’s taking lithium and other secondary medications to treat it.
Blair said his bipolar disorder played a “huge role” in the plagiarism flap but he’s quick to point out that his “personality and character flaws” did as well. Blair said he chooses to write about the disorder because“understanding bipolar disorder is an important part of understanding me.”
When asked how he feels about losing a job at the New York Times [NYT], Blair said: “It was a terrible loss that I mourned and grieved and have accepted.”
By Jessica Heslam
Boston Herald Media Reporter
Sunday, December 10, 2006
After a humiliating plagiarism scandal that rocked the New York Times [NYT], Jayson Blair is quietly resurrecting his journalism career by writing about the very subject he says brought him down: Bipolar disorder.
Blair, 30, has been lending his expertise to 3-year-old bp (bipolar) magazine. He wrote a first-person piece about bipolar disorder and the role it played in his downfall that bp magazine ran last year.
“It went through a very rigorous editing process,” said Editor Nancy Tobin. “We just have a very rigorous editing process and a great deal of fact checking.”
Tobin admits she was skeptical of Blair at first. “When I first got a call from Jayson Blair I was very surprised,” said Tobin, who didn’t know he’d been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Before he wrote for them, Tobin said she “made very careful verfications that he was who he said he was” and had him fax her his diagnosis from his psychiatrist’s office.
“I was not a fan of Jayson Blair or what he had done,” Tobin said.
But after spending a lot of time talking with Blair and having him outline his story, the magazine agreed to publish it. “If we weren’t going to publish his story, what good where we?” asked Tobin, pointing out that the publication is about the disorder - and recovery.
Blair, who agreed to talk to the Herald via e-mail, said he’s also among several dozen writers and others bp editors routinely turn to for feedback. He continues to pitch them stories but had to quit working on a second piece earlier this year because he said he “was not up to doing a fully reported piece.”
When asked if he worries that people might think he is plagiarizing again, Blair said, “Why concern yourself over something you cannot control? The bottom line is that if it rings true, it will reach people.”
Blair “doesn’t think” he’ll ever work for a newspaper again but last year he wrote an editorial on bipolar awareness for the weekly Virginia newspaper, The Centreville Times.
“I can imagine doing those things,” Blair said.
Blair wrote about the death of his dog for the recent Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance newsletter. He says he’s currently working on a writing project but can’t talk about it.
Published in 2004, Blair’s memoir about the Times scandal sold only 4,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan.
The single Blair says he’s self-employed and working full time in a “profitable retail business.” He’s also working toward a college degree in business communications.
Shortly after the scandal, Blair, who also plagiarized while working at the Boston Globe, was diagnosed as bipolar, and he’s taking lithium and other secondary medications to treat it.
Blair said his bipolar disorder played a “huge role” in the plagiarism flap but he’s quick to point out that his “personality and character flaws” did as well. Blair said he chooses to write about the disorder because“understanding bipolar disorder is an important part of understanding me.”
When asked how he feels about losing a job at the New York Times [NYT], Blair said: “It was a terrible loss that I mourned and grieved and have accepted.”