USA Today Foreign Correspondent a fraud

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-03-21 12:18am

Jack Kelley, a star foreign correspondent at USA Today before he resigned earlier this year, appears to have fabricated substantial portions of at least eight major articles in the last 10 years, including one that earned him a finalist nomination for a Pulitzer Prize in 2002, the newspaper reported yesterday.

USA Today, the nation's largest-circulation newspaper, said Mr. Kelley had engaged in his deceptions around the globe, apparently inventing such accounts as his face-to-face encounter with a suicide bomber in Jerusalem, his participation in a high-speed hunt in 2003 for Osama bin Laden and his witnessing the departure of six refugees from Cuba who, he claimed, later drowned.

Mr. Kelley, 43, is also accused of using at least two dozen passages from the work of other news organizations without attribution and trying to subvert USA Today's investigation by concocting scripts - complete with phony identities - for associates to follow if his editors tried to substantiate his work, the newspaper said.

The newspaper said its investigation - which began as an internal inquiry last May, and has been presided over by three outside journalists since January - is continuing.

"In our view, it was a sad and shameful betrayal of the public trust," said the chairman of the panel, John Seigenthaler, the former editor and publisher of The Tennessean, who also oversaw USA Today's editorial and op-ed pages from its founding until 1991. "Certainly any time that happens, it hurts a newspaper, it hurts a newspaper's staff, and the only way I think to exorcise the damage is to disclose the problem and acknowledge it and apologize for it."

Mr. Seigenthaler said that the panel, which has spoken to about 70 USA Today staff members and interviewed Mr. Kelley for about 20 hours, expected to submit a report to the newspaper's publisher in "the near future" that would seek to explain how such deceptions could have gone into the newspaper unchecked.

Lisa Banks, a lawyer for Mr. Kelley, said neither she nor Mr. Kelley had any comment on yesterday's findings, which the newspaper reported in a front-page article and two full pages inside its main news section.

Executives for the newspaper, as well as at Gannett, the parent company of USA Today, also declined to be interviewed yesterday.

But in the newspaper's article, Craig Moon, the newspaper's publisher, was quoted as saying: "As an institution, we failed our readers by not recognizing Jack Kelley's problems. For that I apologize."

The revelation of Mr. Kelley's deceptions is but the latest example of incidents of plagiarism and fabrication that have come to light in recent months at more than a dozen newspapers, including The Chicago Tribune and The Macon Telegraph. Newspapers have become more vigilant in investigating and policing such incidents since Jayson Blair, a former reporter at The New York Times, was found last May to have fabricated portions of more than three dozen articles.

Dozens of newspapers have instituted protective measures against such fraud. They include the formulation of new ethics policies, the placing of stricter controls on the use of anonymous sources and the sending of questionnaires to people named in articles to determine if the reports are accurate and fair, according to a survey conducted by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

Jay Rosen, the chairman of the journalism department at New York University, said that the disclosure of Mr. Kelley's journalistic sins was likely to further undermine the public's faith in the veracity of newspapers and journalists.

"For a lot of the casual public, it's one more piece of evidence against an institution they feel they can't trust," Mr. Rosen said.

At USA Today, which has an average weekday circulation of more than two million readers and is the flagship of the Gannett chain of newspapers, the disclosure that one of its best-known reporters had engaged in journalistic fraud had immediate reverberations.

"I'm speechless," said Dennis Cauchon, a reporter for USA Today since 1987. "Of course, we're all talking about it. It far exceeded what anyone imagined could have been the story."

Debbie Howlett, the newspaper's Midwest correspondent, said she was angry that no editor had come forward to accept any responsibility for what Mr. Kelley had done. "Yes, Jack fabricated many, many stories," she said. "But he was aided and abetted by editors who were hungry for prizes and weren't nearly skeptical enough of these fantastical tales."

At 1:30 p.m. yesterday, about 150 members of USA Today's newsroom staff gathered in the auditorium of its headquarters in McLean, Va., for a hastily arranged, town-hall-style meeting convened by Mr. Moon and led by the panel of three outside editors. In addition to Mr. Seigenthaler, they include William A. Hilliard, a former editor of The Oregonian, and Bill Kovach, a former Washington bureau chief at The New York Times and former editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Mr. Kelley, whose byline first appeared in the newspaper's inaugural issue in 1982, resigned under pressure on Jan. 6. The newspaper had discovered that Mr. Kelley had arranged for a woman who had not been involved in the reporting of a 1999 article - written ostensibly from Belgrade - to pass herself off to his editors as a translator. The inquiry that led to Mr. Kelley's resignation had been triggered by an anonymous complaint last May.

In announcing Mr. Kelley's resignation in an article on Jan. 13, the newspaper said it concluded a seven-month investigation of his work without resolving whether he had fabricated or embellished any articles in his two-decade career. At the time, Karen Jurgensen, the newspaper's editor, was quoted in the newspaper as saying that in many instances, "the difficulty of retracing events in distant war-torn countries made verification impossible."

But after being alerted that an article Mr. Kelley wrote from Pakistan in 1998 contained a number of passages similar to an article that had appeared in The Washington Post, the newspaper reopened its investigation, installing the outside editors at its helm. A team of USA Today journalists read about 720 of Mr. Kelley's articles dating from 1993 and examined closely about 150.

Among the newspaper's findings was that Mr. Kelley's eyewitness account of the bombing of a pizzeria in Jerusalem in August 2001, contained observations that the newspaper now believes to be erroneous.

"Three men, who had been eating pizza inside, were catapulted out of the chairs they had been sitting on," Mr. Kelley wrote in the front-page account. "When they hit the ground their heads separated from their bodies and rolled down the street."

USA Today wrote yesterday that Mr. Kelley, "by his own account, 90 feet away and his back to the pizzeria," would have been hard-pressed to witness such a scene. "Regardless," the paper continued, "no adult victims were decapitated." The article was one of nine that the newspaper's editors included in nominating him for the Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting.
Another article, Mr. Kelley's front-page account, in February 2000, of six Cuban refugees who drowned in a storm "was a lie from start to finish," the paper wrote.

Atop that article, which was later reprinted in Reader's Digest, the newspaper published a photograph of one of the refugees that Mr. Kelley said he had taken days before the voyage that would claim her life. The newspaper said it had recently located the woman, and that she is "alive, married, pregnant and now living in the southeastern United States."

Mr. Kelley's former colleagues said they were shocked by the lengths he had gone to deceive his editors as they investigated his work.

Yesterday, the newspaper published a script Mr. Kelley had apparently prepared for a man in Jerusalem, asking that he play the role of "David," an Israeli intelligence agent who might assure his editors of the accuracy of an article he had written from Hebron in 2001 about "vigilante Jewish settlers" who were "shooting and beating Palestinians."

"I need you to be `David' one more time," Mr. Kelley implored in the message, which was dated July 18, 2003 and found on his laptop. "This will be it. I promise. No more."

First Jayson Blair, now this. I wonder how of big of a problem this really is, and what it means for American journalism.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-03-21 12:29am

his participation in a high-speed hunt in 2003 for Osama bin Laden

Takes balls to fake something that would be so easy to check.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-03-21 01:14am

Howedar wrote:
his participation in a high-speed hunt in 2003 for Osama bin Laden
Takes balls to fake something that would be so easy to check.

Not really. No one really had any idea where bin Laden was, but there were rumors EVERYWHERE. With all of the Al Qaeda operatives and leaders running around, there were leads from Indonesia to Africa to Eastern Europe. Of course, almost all of this was unverifiable, which I'm sure he was counting on when he made those fraudulent reports. And, of course, in journalism there ARE honest mistakes, and there ARE honest mistakes made by people who are telling reporters what the heck is going on. Even the best reporters have blemishes on their records, and guys like me have made serious mistakes in reporting the news, from time to time. I obviously don't condone this sort of fraudulent reporting, but it's often VERY difficult to trace people who DO fabricate stories. Unfortunately, I'm sure there are other crooked journalists. Fortunately, today there's one less.

It would have taken balls to tell his editor "Look, I've been out here for three weeks and I haven't found anything to report." It would have taken balls to say "Sorry, boss, this is all I've got. Osama has hidden himself pretty damn well." It would have taken balls to say "Hey, I don't think there's much of a story, where I am." It would have taken balls to say "Yeah, I made a mistake. I chased the wrong leads and didn't find anything." It would have taken balls to say "Yeah. I fucked up. That story the other day wasn't as accurate as it could have been." To make up news is gutless and dishonorable. What he did has no business in my business, which is the facts.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2004-03-21 01:14am

Check out this

He has been stalked by snipers, caught in a Kosovo minefield, and arrested in Cuba. He was watched helplessly as children starved in Somalia and stood over mass graves in Rwanda. He has tracked crime bosses in Russia and read the diaries of soldiers slain during the Persian Gulf War.

As foreign correspondent for USA Today, Jack Kelley has traveled to 86 countries and conducted interviews with 36 heads of state, including Fidel Castro, Yasser Arafat, The Dalai Lama (who jokester that he is, burped in Jack's face), and Mikhail Gorbachev.

What has brought him to the front lines of human conflict and tragedy?

"Journalism is a calling," he explains. "I feel God's pleasure when I write and report. It isn't because of the glory, but because God has called me to proclaim truth, and to worship and serve him through other people."

His role models, he says, are four of "the greatest journalists of all time"; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

"I try to be people's ears, eyes, and hearts so they can understand the times they are living in," he says.

One might think he has become callous after seeing so much misery.

But he hasn't.

"The day it stops affecting me or I become cynical is the day I want to get out of journalism," Jack says.

He chooses to see how God is working and teach universal lessons through his stories. Here are some of the most important things he has discovered in his extensive and intense journeys across the globe.

God does intervene

After Jack crossed a kingpin while investigating organized crime in Moscow, he received several death threats. The State Department advised him to go to the U. S. Embassy. On his way there he realized he was being pursued by four men in two cars. As he ran down foreign streets, he prayed for God's help.

"I got this vision of an apartment building with the number 925 on it and an elderly man next to the door up one flight of stairs. Next thing I knew, I came upon building number 925. Walking in, I found an elderly man on the right who told me to come in until my pursuers passed," Jack recalls.

"I can remember the apartment vividly. It was decorated with a blue sofa and chairs, and the refrigerator was well stocked. I stayed there for a while until the men looking for me had passed. When I sent my interpreter to that apartment the next day to thank the man, she couldn't find him. The manager said the apartment had been empty for more than a year. This was just one of the many times God has spared me.

"I talk to the Lord constantly," he adds. "That is the only way I can get through this job. I should have died a long time ago. God is protecting me. I don't think I am testing the Lord. I just think this is what he has called me to do, and he will equip me as necessary."

The essence of evil

"When I interviewed a warlord in Somalia some years ago, it was obvious that he was lying. I asked him why food donated by churches and organizations in America for victims of the famine had not been distributed. He told me, 'Every single bag is given out, as are all the blankets we receive.' As I left the interview I saw his well-nourished soldiers wearing blankets as starving people begged for crumbs," Jack says. "And I remember thinking that here was a perfect example of selfishness and evil, and of what happens when people put their own needs above others and take their eyes off of God."

One reason God has called him to journalism, he believes, is to deliver a wake-up call about the need to oppose such evil and to affirm Godly values.

"If I can write a story so compelling that it makes someone in Portland or Seattle or Kansas City wake up to the world around them," he says, "then I have succeeded."

Jack feels Christians should be aware of what's going on around the world and exert influence where good and evil are in contention.

"As Christians, we are called to be in the world but not of the world. But some Christians, I'm afraid, are not even in the world. They refuse to keep up with the news. They isolate themselves.

"After all I've seen," he continues, "I realize that people are more alike than they are different, and that everyone is trying to make it through with some measure of dignity.... It doesn't matter what color their skin is, or their income, or where they live, the most important thing is to show people the love of the Lord."

When truth is a casualty

In times of war and crisis, Jack has repeatedly seen how easy it is for misinformation to color perceptions. He has been stunned by the false reports he has received in war torn areas.

"During the war in Kosovo, NATO and pentagon reports said that hundreds of Kosovo men were being held in a stadium where Serb forces were executing them. I grew a beard and dressed as an Albanian and went to the stadium with an Albanian interpreter. We found two men there: one was a security guard and the other was kicking a soccer ball."

Jack says the best way for him to demonstrate his Christian walk is to strive for excellence in all his dealings. He checks and rechecks his facts and sources, and puts in extra effort so his reports will be accurate and to the point. He tries always to be fair and even- handed. One Muslim man even uses Jack's articles to teach his daughter about Islam.

His efforts pay off. Jack regularly receives 110 letters a month from readers. People often send money for charities to help the people he writes about.

His goal as a journalist is to bear witness to the truth so his USA Today readers can see both the cowardice and the heroism of common people caught up in extreme distress.

Giving even when it hurts

Perhaps the most remarkable example of self- sacrifice that Jack has seen occurred in Somalia during a severe famine. His photographer gave a malnourished boy a grapefruit. The boy was so weak he could not even hold the citrus, so they cut it in half for him. Kelley and his photographer then followed the boy as he walked back into a village.

There the boy found a younger boy (his brother), lying on the ground with his eyes glazed over. Jack thought he was dead. The older brother knelt down, bit off a piece of grapefruit, chewed it, and put it in the boy's mouth. He then worked his younger brother's jaw with his hand.

Kelley discovered that the older brother had been keeping his younger brother alive in this manner for two weeks. Ultimately, the older brother died while the younger one survived.

"We are told that there is no greater love than to give your life away for someone else," Jack says. "Our life is just a breath and then it's gone. We need to give our life away to make it count."

He was also deeply impressed by a young Kuwaiti man who, during Iraqi occupation, led a group of young people who secretly visited the sick, elderly, and poor, giving them money, medicine, and food. This man was beaten and left for dead by Iraqi soldiers when they found him. They wanted to know the names of his friends.

Jack describes his interview with the man this way: "I said, 'What did they do to you?' He lifted up his shirt and there were knife scars on every part of his chest. The Iraqis had cut out the man's nipples. I said, 'Well, did you give in? Did you tell them what they wanted to know?' He said, 'Absolutely not, sir.'

"I remember driving home that day through a road full of craters from mortars, and thinking, If that man could do that for his country, why can't I be like that for my God? I knew then that it was time for me to get real with my life and with God, to stand up for what is right regardless of the cost."

Jack, who became a Christian 21 years ago in the Catholic charismatic movement, also has role models in his own family. "My mother was the first to be born again, and encouraged my father, my sister, and me to follow her example. My sister is now a missionary along with her husband and children with Youth for Christ, and my wife Jackie is also a loving and giving person. Jacki and my mom have more integrity than anyone I know."

Jack and his wife, senior vice president of advertising at USA Today, attend an evangelical church in Silver Spring, Maryland. "We take the time every day to pray together, to study Scripture. Jackie has great compassion for the poor and the oppressed," he says.

Renewal in unlikely places

Jack is impressed by people in many places who have embraced Christianity wholeheartedly after years of government suppression.

"There is an explosion of faith taking place in Cuba," he says. "I went to several churches, including one on the outskirts of Havana in an abandoned building without air conditioning. It was built for about 150 people, and at least 400 were packed in there. People were worshiping with all their strength, singing so loud you could probably have heard it in the next town.

"The same thing is happening in Russia. People have been denied the right to express their faith, and now it is just spilling out. One 78-year-old woman I met in a church in Moscow told me, 'I have waited almost all my 78 years to be able to say Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.' She is so grateful she finally does not have to hide the truth."

There are still places where Christianity is seen as a threat, though.

"One missionary couple in Iran I know asked that I not call or visit them because they know my phone is usually bugged and I am followed. They don't want the prayer meetings they hold in their homes to be discovered. Some governments are very good at making people disappear."

Jack has seen Christians in China write Scripture verses on toilet tissue because they didn't have paper. He has also seen their clandestine prayer meetings, which could land them in trouble with the authorities if discovered.

"After seeing such devotion," he admits, "I have no right to complain or to put my own feelings and thoughts or wishes above God's, ever. The Lord teaches me with every assignment the kind of person he wants his followers to be."

Emphasis mine.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-03-21 01:26am

Master of Ossus wrote:Not really. No one really had any idea where bin Laden was, but there were rumors EVERYWHERE. With all of the Al Qaeda operatives and leaders running around, there were leads from Indonesia to Africa to Eastern Europe. Of course, almost all of this was unverifiable, which I'm sure he was counting on when he made those fraudulent reports. And, of course, in journalism there ARE honest mistakes, and there ARE honest mistakes made by people who are telling reporters what the heck is going on. Even the best reporters have blemishes on their records, and guys like me have made serious mistakes in reporting the news, from time to time. I obviously don't condone this sort of fraudulent reporting, but it's often VERY difficult to trace people who DO fabricate stories. Unfortunately, I'm sure there are other crooked journalists. Fortunately, today there's one less.

Point taken. I don't know exactly what specifics he gave on his fake chase.

*snip*

Your rant goes somewhat without saying and a disclaimer that it wasn't aimed specifically at me would be appreciated.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-03-21 01:27am

Unless it was aimed specifically at me, in which case you're being something of an ass.

And a friendly mod can cobble this post onto the last one if they'd like.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-03-21 02:50am

Howedar wrote: Your rant goes somewhat without saying and a disclaimer that it wasn't aimed specifically at me would be appreciated.

Okay. The above rant was not aimed at Howedar, or anyone in particular except for this story-hoaxing jackass.

The Albino Raven · Post by **The Albino Raven** » 2004-03-21 03:18am

If papers worried more about what is happening, and less about finding sensational stories, then maybe things wouldn't be this common, but who can say.