Thursday, November 20, 2008

II. Jack Kelly -- Analysis of the Situation

The only positive aspect that Jack Kelley had going for him was to sustain his career. His actions were mostly negative. The exact reason for him fabricating stories is unknown as he has never publicly stated a reason to justify why he opted to single handily tarnish his career. However, the fact that he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize a total of five times might be a good reason that he elected to keep on writing stories that are now in hindsight seen as contrite. He was also seen as the star of the newsroom by always appearing as one of the faces of USA Today. So maybe his reasoning to act the way he did was to uphold this star status.

USA Today’s reputation as well as editors and himself were affected by his bad decisions. Staffers at USA Today that include Karen Jurgensen Brian Gallagher, Hal Ritter and Jack Kelley all resigned as a result of Kelley’s fraudulent reporting.

Staff members were in the wrong, too, as an extensive report on Kelley indicates that some of them were skeptical of his writing. The fact that no one stood up to express these concerns is wrong as well. Newsrooms should be open to addressing any concern that might arise, particularly if someone is even at the least bit suspicious of something or someone. The staffers not reporting this to a higher authority is amiss to their journalistic values.

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