Jayson

A review of articles written by disgraced reporter Jayson Blair for a student-staffed news agency run by the University of Maryland has found repeated errors and several sources who dispute remarks attributed to them. But it did not uncover any of the rampant plagiarism or fabrication found in at least three dozen stories he later wrote for The New York Times. The university's Philip Merrill College of Journalism commissioned the study of Blair's work in the wake of the scandal at the Times that cost him his job last spring and, ultimately, cost the newspaper's two top editors their jobs as well.

LANDOVER -- Charles Barkley dedicated the Philadelphia 76ers' game with the Washington Bullets at the Capital Centre last night to suspended teammate Jayson Williams, who had come to his aid in Thursday night's tangle with the Charlotte Hornets' J.R. Reid.So what if Barkley spelled Jayson's name on his sneakers without a 'Y.' He delivered his message emphatically, as he scored 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to defeat the Bullets, before another sellout of 18,756."Jayson protected my rear, I owed it to him," said Barkley of his tribute to the second-year forward who was suspended for two games and fined $10,000 for punching Reid.

Jayson Werth was eager to get his professional baseball career started after he was chosen by the Orioles in the first round of the June amateur draft. The catcher signed quickly, for a modest bonus in this age of extravagant high-round contracts, passed on a full college scholarship and reported on time to camp in Sarasota, Fla.A player who sets high goals for himself, Werth has hit an early -- albeit minor -- snag in the Gulf Coast League, however.Sidelined for 20 of Sarasota's first 40 games because of recurrent back spasms, Werth, 18, is playing through medical problems for the first time.

Apparently, Jayson Blair is angry, not contrite. The former New York Times reporter has acknowledged plagiarizing, fabricating and inflating accounts in dozens of articles for the paper before resigning May 1. But Blair says in a new interview that he was repeatedly wronged by petty and often racist mid-level Times editors who attempted to prevent his rise. In the interview, published yesterday in The New York Observer, the 27-year-old Blair ascribes part of his problems to his abuse of alcohol and cocaine.

News executives at once applauded and winced yesterday after seeing USA Today's detailed account of the dishonest reporting - including repeated instances of plagiarism and fabrication - by former foreign correspondent Jack Kelley. They applauded, they said, because such honesty is desperately needed to win back the trust of the public. But the scandal undoubtedly will reinforce the mistrust many Americans already feel toward the media, they added. "It's definitely one more troubling scene in a long-running movie," said Sandra Mims Rowe, editor of the Portland Oregonian.

In a new memoir in which he strikes an alternately resentful and contrite tone, former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair accepts blame for his disgrace last spring, when he was forced to resign from the newspaper following charges of plagiarism. He also details frequent cocaine use, mental illness and compulsive attempts to curry favor by playing office politics. "In the end-justifies-the-means environment I worked in, I had grown accustomed to lying," Blair writes in the opening chapter.

IN LESS THAN a year, two major national newspapers have devoted pages of their main news sections to special reports-not on the war on terrorism or the war in Iraq or the presidential race - but on their own egregious mistakes. In May, it was The New York Times, one of the country's most respected newspapers, explaining how reporter Jayson Blair had deceived readers. This month, it was USA Today, the nation's most widely circulated newspaper, explaining how foreign correspondent Jack Kelley invented stories from locales around the globe.

Local folks seem to be heeding the president's advice not to give in to fear: Loads of 'em turned out to social events last weekend. That's not to say the events of Sept. 11 were forgotten. Word of mouth about last year's first annual "Bull & Oyster Roast" for HERO -- Health Education Resource Organization -- brought out an even bigger crowd this year. Some 245 folks showed up at The Overlea on Belair Road to gorge on good eats, dance and play wheel games. HERO's Beezer Zepp says the shindig brought together all sorts of people, raising more than $13,000 for HIV / AIDS support and services.

Last Sunday, four full pages of The New York Times boiled forth the offenses of its reporter Jayson Blair. The articles specified "journalistic fraud" in at least 36 of the last 73 dispatches Blair wrote for the newspaper. It reported that 13 months before Blair was caught and fired, after repeated published admissions of error had retracted elements of his stories, metropolitan editor Jonathan Landman had sent his bosses a message that said "We have to stop Jayson from writing for the Times.

The top three executives at the New York Times apologized in turn yesterday to the newspaper's staff for lapses that allowed a former junior reporter to fabricate and plagiarize dozens of stories despite warnings by supervisors. "We are deeply sorry," Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said during a private meeting with hundreds of Times journalists held at a movie theater near the paper's Manhattan headquarters. Sulzberger sat on stage flanked by Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd, all in director's chairs, according to several reporters who attended.