For the Record: Compromising journalistic integrity

By The opinion of The Santa Clara

As facts come to light over a New York Times reporter who fabricated details and plagiarized stories, a dark cloud is cast over the integrity of newspaper reporting. According to an investigation by the Times, Jayson Blair had misled readers by manufacturing details and falsifying scenes of situations, sometimes claiming to be in places he was not. As the investigative article grimly points out, it is indeed a low point in the more than 150-year history of the paper.

The Times has made substantial efforts in the past week to bring this to light. Available on the Times' Web site (http://www.nytimes.com) is a well-documented and comprehensive list of stories the investigation has reviewed. While we applaud the Times for making a public apology yesterday for such egregious errors - something for which they inarguably lose credibility - it should open the eyes of aspiring reporters to correct conduct and a standard of ethics they should follow. It should also give us pause to re-examine our honesty in our own everyday transactions.

The Santa Clara, as in-house advertisements have said in the past, prides itself on accuracy in reporting. And we mean that. Anything - whether it is a factual error or a misspelled name - should be brought to our attention. Call us at (408) 554-4852 or send us an e-mail at tsceditor@scu.edu, and we will run a correction.

Accuracy is a revered quality in the news business. Straying from that compromises more than news content - it compromises our personal integrity, too.