In all of the discussion of CBS and Rathergate, why not ask the one person most qualified to discuss breakdowns in the newsroom: Jayson Blair?

I’d wondered something throughout this entire Rathergate affair; Rather’s chicanery was just the coup de grace in a long string of recent journalistic scandals. Yet there hadn’t been much of a post-mortem – in discussing the various flaws of the mainstream journalistic community, Rather seemed to exist in a bubble. Names like Jayson Blair, Jack Kelley and Janet Cooke rarely seemed to surface, and when they did they were only used as a touchstone never as part of in depth examination of journalistic failings – a particularly annoying phenomenon since the mainstream media seems so eager to point out the flaws of blogs.

So I got up and dropped Jayson Blair a note to see what he thinks of this mess. As I suspected, Rathergate.com was the first media outlet to contact him. That the media hasn’t contacted him I think says volumes. The fact remains his perspective is novel and newsworthy – regardless of whether you believe he should be forgiven. But, alas you’re dealing with a media that would rather sweep problems under the rug than go back and revisit those problems, especially at a crucial time when reexamining past problems like the Blair story would do some real good.

Jayson was courteous and prompt. Here’s what he had to say in its uncut entirety:

My first reaction when a friend asked about the Dan Rather memo flap was to ponder whether anyone learned anything from the mess I got myself into. Nobody knows the value of credibility better than I do. I’d give up the book royalties if I could get my credibility and career back.

It is encouraging that CBS has appointed an independent commission to look into the situation, but the real issue isn’t so much simply what went wrong on this one story — but what is broken at CBS that allowed something like this to happen. I hope that the first priority is not simply protecting the brand name, but fixing whatever is broken. I think it would do all news organizations good to look inside before scandal takes them.

Amazingly enough, you are the only media outlet that has contacted me, although I heard from my publicist that he heard that CNN was considering me for a panel, but that didn’t happen. Although, a number of news organizations have put me in their stories and editorial cartoons as an example.

It’s really sad to see what’s happening to Dan Rather and CBS, and no one knows like me what its like to lose their credibility. I would give anything to have it back. If I could turn back time, I would.

You really have to step back and look at this from the outside. No. 1, it was not news that George Bush was wild as a young man. He has pretty much said that himself. No. 2, it was not news that George Bush came from a family that had influence. What would be shocking would be if he did not use that influence. He has three-and-one-half years and two wars as President and if can’t make a judgment on that, as opposed to his personal life three decades ago, then there might as well not be elections. (Cont’d)

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