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Thursday, April 22, 2004

USA Today devoted an entire page to detailing the findings of two investigations into the work of Jack Kelley, who resigned in January after a company investigation into his stories.

The paper also published a statement from its publisher, Craig Moon, and one from Kelley in which he apologizes and admits "a number of serious mistakes."

Initial findings from one investigation, done internally by a team of reporters and editors, had been reported previously. The report of the other investigation, conducted by three respected editors from the outside, was delivered to Moon last week but kept under wraps.

The scandal brought down Editor Karen Jurgensen, 55, who retired abruptly Tuesday. She had been held her post since 1999.

The outside editors investigating Kelley - John Seigenthaler, Bill Kovach and Bill Hillard - roundly criticized the newspaper's management in their 28-page report. Their points included the newspaper's refusal to investigate Kelley years ago despite the suspicions of his colleagues and sources, and an early probe being undermined by Kelley's supporters.

The independent report found that the newspaper had policies, rules and guidelines that, combined with routine editing procedures, "should have raised dark shadows of doubt about Kelley's work, had his editors been vigilant and diligent."

An internal investigation started last fall was fatally flawed, the report said, "because the investigators set out to prove he had been guilty of nothing."

'Virus' of Fear

Some USA Today staff members had suspicions about Kelley's work but feared raising them aloud in part because of a perception that Kelley was seen as the "Golden Boy" for top managers, the three editors said. The "virus" of fear made the staff "enablers for the fraud Jack Kelley produced."

Viewed as a whole, the outside report said, the newspaper's structure and topdown management tended to "silence" the editorial staff, discourage give-and-take among reporters and editors and "separate responsibility from accountability."

Meanwhile, the expanded report from the internal investigation found that Kelley appears to have started "a pattern of lies and deceit" in 1991 when he began reporting regularly from overseas.

Examination of more than 1,400 stories that Kelley wrote during his 21-year career at USA Today found that he made up parts of at least 20 stories and devised alibis to try to hide his deceptions.

The investigation, conducted by a team of staff editors and reporters, also found that Kelley lifted at least 100 passages from other publications, embellished the work of others or made his stories seem exclusive by attributing previously reported information to "U.S. intelligence sources."

It also concluded he billed the paper for thousands of dollars in cash purportedly paid to translators or drivers who said they never received the money.

'I Cannot Make Amends'

In a statement issued to the paper through his lawyer, Kelley said: "I have made a number of serious mistakes that violate the values that are most important to me as a person and as a journalist. I recognize that I cannot make amends for the harm I have caused to my family, friends and colleagues. Nor can I make it up to readers who depend upon good journalism to understand a chaotic and confusing world. I can only offer my sincere apology to those I have let down."

In March, confronted with the initial findings of the investigation, Kelley had denied any wrongdoing. "I feel like I'm being set up," he told the editors.

Lisa J. Banks, a lawyer representing Kelley, declined to comment.

Moon, the publisher, said in his statement: "The unfortunate lessons of the last several months have been instructive - to me, and I am sure, to others."

Moon said he recommended that the initial internal inquiry be terminated because "we had found no real evidence of wrongdoing." Editors, however, argued "forcefully" that the inquiry should continue, Moon said, and they prevailed.

He thanked them for standing their ground "because we now know that during that time, Jack Kelley was engaged in an elaborate disinformation campaign to mislead us."

© 2004 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Editor's note: