Jayson Blair

Jayson Blair was the former New York Times reporter who admitted to journalism fraud after it was found that he had faked quotes, submitted false expense reports to make it seem that he was travelling the country reporting and plagiarized from other newspapers.

Several months before his exposure and resignation, Blair covered such high-profile cases as the Washington DC sniper, but there is no evidence that he ever went to Washington. Blair also claimed to have interviewed the parents of former POW Jessica Lynch. The interview was later found to have been entirely falsified; Lynch's parents said that they never spoke to Blair and that he made references in his article to "nonexistent tobacco fields and cattle".¹

The Times called the incident "a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper" and has admitted to 36 instances of journalism fraud committed by Blair. Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd both resigned about a month after Blair over the scandal.

References

1: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40536-2003May10.html
2: "New York Times executives Howell Raines, Gerald Boyd resign." Associated Press. June 5, 2003.