Posted 9:37 AM by Gene

I've a hunch a lot of news hacks think with the Times publishing its mea culpa it's ended L'Affaire Blair for it and them. But I can't recall a time when so many press miscreants have been caught plagiarizing or fabricating, or accepting favors. Nor can we have faith the business is catching all of them; it took YEARS to discover the fictions of Jayson Blair. And as I said yesterday, some of the most dishonest reporting is, strictly speaking, "ETHICAL." The last I saw scandal mongering was still "ETHICAL." Politically-motivated hatchet jobs are "ETHICAL." Slanting the news for a higher "truth" is "ETHICAL." Invasions of privacy (particularly of private citizens) are "ETHICAL." Goading of panics is "ETHICAL." Using your position to print resumes is "ETHICAL." And, of course, advertising (especially for show-biz) is EXTREMELY "ETHICAL"; a jackass like Richard "ADVERTISEMENT" Corliss lies as much to his readers as Blair, for as with any ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE, his copy is part lie and part exaggeration, and it's worse because he does it not for himself but for craven corporate bosses, and I submit he should follow Blair to the unemployment line.