BuzzMachine

I am a reporter
: I am a reporter; I have been a reporter for more than 30 years; I love reporting.

And I hate reporters who lie.

I hate them for robbing reporting of its one and only asset: credibility.

I hate Stephen Glass, who appeared on 60 Minutes tonight, all smug and obnoxious, to tell how he lied.

I hate Jayson Blair, who lied and lied and lied in the New York Times.

I don’t buy the Kaus argument that Times management is at fault for for promoting Blair because of his race.

That is racist. That is racist bullshit. And it is Times-phobic bullshit.

Black, white, yellow, red, or f’ing purple, a liar is a liar. Anybody over the age of 5 from a halfway decent home without dependence on drugs for psychoses knows what a lie is.

And these people are liars. The responsibility is theirs.

I was down in my basement today, by chance, repacking boxes and boxes of my clips from my days as a reporter, back when I did useful things. I remember obsessing over my quotes and facts, making sure I got them right, because it mattered.

These liars ruin things for every other reporter and every reader.

They are to media what the scumbuckets who ruined Enron and Worldcom and Anderson are to business.

They are liars.