KURTZ: USA TODAY REPORTER (Jack Kelley) PANICKED (during probe of his work!)

USA Today via Drudge ^ | Sat Jan 10 2004 19:49:51 ET | Drudge/Kurtz

[martin_fierro]

KURTZ: USA TODAY REPORTER PANICKED

Sat Jan 10 2004 19:49:51 ET

USA Today correspondent Jack Kelley resigned Tuesday after an investigation of his work -- after he "panicked and used poor judgment" during the probe, the WASHINGTON POST is planning to report on Sunday.

According to newsroom sources, the POST's Howard Kurtz will report: "In an effort to prove that he had spoken with a human rights activist in Yugoslavia, Kelley said in an interview, he encouraged a translator who was not present during the 1999 sit-down to impersonate another translator who was there. The woman who agreed to help Kelley called the USA Today journalist assigned to investigate the matter last fall and verified Kelley's account as if she had been there. "

About two weeks later, Kelley said, he realized the magnitude of his error and confessed to the paper's publisher, executive editor and reporter Mark Memmott, who had received the bogus call.

"I resigned because I felt I should no longer work at USA Today because of what I'd done," Kelley said. But he said he stands behind every story he has written, many of them from war zones, during a 21-year career at the nation's best-selling newspaper. He said his bad judgment stemmed from his conviction that the investigation was "a witch hunt to drive me out of USA Today."

Editor Karen Jurgensen said Saturday: "I'm confident Jack was treated fairly and professionally throughout the investigation. We have no concerns whatsoever about the quality or fairness of the investigation."

[martin_fierro]

Just damn.

[martin_fierro]

They're dropping like lies flies!

[Support Free Republic]

Show your true colors!

Reach into that purse and donate to Free Republic!

[Kevin Curry]

There's an opening at the NYT for a reporter of such resourcefulness, isn't there?

[Beck_isright]

That's ok. He'll get a job with Dean any moment now.

[umgud]

This is B.S. He didn't panic, he just got a better offer from the NY Times.

[martin_fierro]

Kelley (r)

(I don't think that's his "translator" there)

[IncPen]

Proper attribution is necessary for the story to be correct:

Correspondent Jack Kelley (D - USA Today)

[Drango]

LOL, a Jason Blair wanna be.

[Timesink]

Schadenfreude

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[af_vet_1981]

Proper attribution is necessary for the story to be correct: Correspondent Jack Kelley (D - USA Today)

One of Jack's supporters (who also denies the 19 hijackers attacked America) writes "USA Today Reporter Writes Anti-Israel Story and Needs your support" .

He wants you to help him support Jack ...

[Timesink]

The Kurtz article:

Reporter 'Panicked' In Probe: USA Today's Kelley Admits a Deception

[reformed_democrat]

Thanks for the PING, Timesink. I've missed you.

[Swordmaker]

RE; the picture.

Somethings, once conceived, should not be continued to completion.

[Liz]

This guy is perfect. He'll have no problem getting a job with the DNC for its 2004 presidential spin operation. They'll need all the clymers they can get for that job.

[martin_fierro]

• He said his bad judgment stemmed from his conviction that the investigation was "a witch hunt to drive me out of USA Today."
• Kelley said he tried to reach the second translator in Texas but she left him a voice-mail saying she was just trying to earn money and did not want to get involved.
• Kelley said he tracked down a third Yugoslav translator in Texas, with whom he had worked before, for assistance in finding the reluctant woman. The third translator said he would never find the woman and offered to impersonate her in a phone call to Memmott, according to Kelley, who said he went along with the plan.
  "I knew it was wrong," said Kelley, who lost 25 pounds during the investigation and said he was under great stress.
• Kelley loves USA Today but is seething about the way he was treated. He is an evangelical Christian who told Christian Reader magazine three years ago that he is in journalism "because God has called me to proclaim truth." But he now concedes that he participated in a lie while trying to vindicate the accuracy of his reporting.

I'm as willing to listen to this guy's side of the story as the next guy, but these lame defenses don't pass the sniff test.

[Grampa Dave]

USALIES TODAY is typical of the left wing media.

Besides lying, the editor/publisher admitted to spiking stories about the Clintons during the 1992/94 elections. He aided and abetted the bent one during the Monica Mess.

USALIES TODAY in many hotels and motels is not free, the guests just think that it is. Regardless, I tell the front desk when I check in, that I don't want USALIES TODAY, regardless if it is free.

[Grampa Dave]

He sounds like he would be perfect for the NY SLIMES or ABCNNBC BS phoney news with all the mantras/spin of the DNC posing as news.

[M-cubed]

more of the same ol' arrogant liberal think....to a liberal..The ends always justifies the means!...lying..cheating..stealing becomes exceptable to futher their cause..or...In a nut shell.. liberal morals are governed by their politics...as opposed to conservitives whose politics are governed by their morals...

[CaptainK]

USA Today and serious foreign news coverage, does not compute.