Howell Raines, Ousted New York Times Editor, Reflects Five Years After Jayson Blair Scandal

It is clearly a coincidence that former New York Times Executive Editor Howell Raines will be in town this week, exactly five years after the notorious Jayson Blair scandal that ended his Times tenure and created a credibility nightmare for the paper.

Raines, who has spent the past half-decade on different writing projects and fixing up his home in rural Henryville, Pa., has a good reason to hit Manhattan: his son, Jeff, is slated to be on Late Night with Conan O'Brien with his funk band, Galactic.

"He and his best friend from high school formed the band and my contribution to its success has been not to give them any business advice," said Raines, 65, who plans to be in the audience when the show tapes Tuesday evening.

Still, noting the five-year anniversary of the Blair scandal, in which the Times reporter was found to have written numerous false stories, plagiarized others, and reported on places he'd never visited, Raines seemed mostly positive.

"I am proud of the fact that it set the standard for in-house inquiries," he recalled by telephone Monday, referring to the in-depth investigation the paper launched on Blair. "I feel proud of the fact that we had as close to a full investigation as any journalistic entity has done in my experience."

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