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New York Times editor Bill Keller notified the staff today that disgraced reporter Jayson Blair's new book will be ignored by the paper. He also warned that it contains "hurtful" claims about the paper and staff members.
His memo follows:
To the staff:Jayson Blair's book, advance copies of which have begun to circulate, does not merit much attention. The author is an admitted fabricator. (Chapter one begins,"I lied and I lied -- and then I lied some more.") The book pretends to be a mea culpa, but ends up spewing imaginary blame in all directions. We don't intend to respond to Jayson or his book.
But after reviewing an advance copy we did want to convey something to the staff. Some of you may find the smears hurtful, even if they are utterly lacking in credibility. It pains us that, after all we have done together to put this newspaper right, any of you should be subjected to this. We just wanted to state the obvious, that nothing in this work diminishes our trust in this amazing staff, or in the integrity of our great enterprise. Arthur has asked us to let you know that he wholeheartedly concurs.
Bill & Jill & John
The signers are Executive Editor Bill Keller and managing editors Jill Abramson and John M. Geddes.