Ex (NYT) reporter Jayson Blair now working as life coach (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Yahoo News ^ | August 20, 2009 | Matthew Barakat

[abb]

Jayson Blair knows his new profession — life coach — smacks some people in the face like a bad punchline.

"People say, 'Wait a minute. You're a life coach?' That makes no sense,'" says Blair, the ex-journalist best known for foisting plagiarism and fabrications into the pages of The New York Times. "Then they think about my life experiences and what I've been through and they say 'Wait a minute. It does make sense.'"

Blair, 33, resigned from the Times in 2003, leaving a journalistic scandal in his wake. The resulting furor led the paper's top two newsroom executives to resign. Blair wrote a book, then mostly disappeared from view.

For the past two years, he has been quietly working as a certified life coach for one of the most respected mental health practices in northern Virginia.

"He can relate to patients just beautifully," said Michael Oberschneider, the psychologist who hired Blair and urged him to become a life coach. "Sometimes you just meet people in life who have these electric personalities. Well, Jayson is now using his talents for good."

Oberschneider, director of Ashburn Psychological Services, took an interest in Blair after seeing him lead a support group for people with bipolar disorder that Blair founded in his hometown of Centreville after being diagnosed himself.

Oberschneider said he took a long, hard look at Blair before hiring him, in large part because of his past, which included substance abuse. But he was impressed at the rapport Blair had established with members of the support group.

"Very few people can go through what he did and come back," Oberschneider said. "He really is a success story."

Blair says his empathy for his clients is his biggest asset.

"They know I've been in their shoes," he said.

snip

[Eaker]

Help Wanted: Life coach, must be a liar and drug abuser. Experience as a plagiarizing reporter a plus.

[backhoe]

The best part of the whole story was when they were in the big meeting and Pinch throws a stuffed toy moose out on the table. http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0708/Sulzberger_flipflops_on_stuffed_moose.html In an infamous incident, Mr. Sulzberger showed up at a company crisis meeting holding a toy stuffed moose. It was a gimmick meant to symbolize things that people were afraid to say, but nobody was in the mood for goofy shtick.

I had quite forgotten about the bloody moose- thanks for the reminder.

[abb]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-biz-tribune-aug20,0,2780195.story
Tribune Co. executive: operating management will stay

[dixiechick2000]

Once a...

always a...

;o)

[Palladin]

...on to an even better con.

He will make millions doing this.

[abb]

http://reinventingthenewsroom.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/paul-farhis-very-strange-advice/
Paul Farhi’s Very Strange Advice

http://www.wordyard.com/2009/08/20/something-doesnt-love-a-paywall/
Something there is that doesn’t love a paywall

http://www.news-record.com/blog/56184/entry/67629
A modest proposal: a different kind of Web site

[Slings and Arrows]

Only the brand has changed..

[abb]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hOSrp-uxxzdg3DYhyKaLfx-fdx2wD9A6RBLO1
Philly newspapers file debt-free bankruptcy plan

[StormEye]

"IMHO a lot of sexual tension exists between George and Elaine."

But all of the "tension" was only with George.

[PLK]

The glaring thing about this article is that it NEVER covers the facts of what this guy did!!! Turn the tables and you KNOW the facts would have been repeated ad nauseum.

Disgustingly predictable. Ugh.

[abb]

More.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/20/AR2009082004184.html
Suburbs, the Safe Harbor of Reinvention
Latest to Be Lured Here, Scandal-Bitten Reporter Tries Hand as Life Coach