The top two New York Times editors resigned today, dogged by an unrelenting scandal sparked by a former young reporter who plagiarised and fabricated dozens of stories at the nation's most influential newspaper.
Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd emerged from a mid-morning meeting and told surprised staff in the midtown Manhattan newsroom they were quitting, Times reporters said.
The plagiarism scandal gripped the paper in recent weeks, as top editors traced the misconduct of reporter Jayson Blair and investigated the work of other reporters.
It also brought to the surface brewing dissatisfaction with Raines' management style, which many staff members complained was hierarchical, distant and based on making stars out of selected reporters and ignoring others.
The two editors had come under severe criticism after it was revealed that Blair had plagiarised and fabricated numerous stories during his Times career of almost four years. Blair resigned in early May.
Since then, top Times writer Rick Bragg, a Pulitzer Prize winner, resigned amid accusations of dishonest reporting. Raines and Boyd were blamed for overlooking Blair's errors and warnings about the quality of his work by other editors.
They were also accused of promoting the young black reporter in the interest of helping diversify the newsroom, despite his known shortcomings.
