It was near the time when the tragic nightmare of the Sept. 11 terror seared our souls, and I was writing a piece asking whether journalists should leave their humanity at the door when they leave to cover a story.
One of the examples I used, and which struck me so forcefully, was a story in USA Today written by Jack Kelley. In it, Kelley told of witnessing a bomb exploding in a Jerusalem pizza parlor, killing 15 and wounding 130.
He wrote of seeing detached heads, people with nails in their arms and legs, and one woman with a nail in one of her eyes.
“Reporters have always been told to be objective,” Kelley told The New York Times, “to interview without having feelings interfere. But it was difficult not to stop and put down your notebook and do whatever you can. There was one man whose legs had been blown off and there was blood pouring out of where his genitals had been, and he looked at me and said, ‘Please, help me.'”
Jack Kelley, I wrote, had a job to do, and he did it extremely well.
Now we know, he couldn’t have seen what he said he saw. A weeks-long internal investigation at USA Today concluded that Jack Kelley made it up. And he fabricated other stories, as well.
He cheated. He, indeed, left his humanity at the door. And he also left behind the ethics and values that have to be the bedrock of what we do as journalists.
What a shame.
Obviously, Jack Kelley has talent. Just as so many others who plagiarize or invent stories and characters have talent. But they must have skipped the lessons on being honest with your editors and, more importantly, with your readers.
Kelley is just the latest in this rash of journalistic sinners. It has been reported that since Jayson Blair nominated himself for the hall of shame, there have been at least 10 other cases of plagiarism. And, of course, before Blair there were others: Glass and Barnicle and Smith (their infractions are known by their names), and the eruption in Salt Lake City, and the dirty laundry list goes on and on.
Yet, good things happen in newsrooms every day. Men and women practice excellent and ethical journalism. They truly care about what they do. They make a difference. But what they do is too often lost in the negativity that surrounds the Kelleys and Blairs.
I don’t know what will happen to Kelley now. Blair got a book. Glass got a movie. Barnicle got a TV job and now a column again. Janet Cooke disappeared. Some are rewarded, others severely punished. But they all leave their trash behind them for others to clean up.
What I do know is that Jack Kelley is losing a precious gift, the gift of being a journalist, a gift no one has the right to mess up. I admired his writing so much that I thought what he expressed could serve as a lesson to others. I was just one of the many who was fooled. And I share their disappointment.
What a waste. What a shame.
Don’t leave your humanity — or ethics — at the door.