AMERICA: The New York Times may have hoped that the story of Jayson Blair would go away after it published a four-page apologia for his fabricated articles two weeks ago, but it has only got bigger.
The 27-year-old reporter has since featured on the cover of Newsweek and New York magazine and the scandal has dominated cable news.
In a lengthy interview with the New York Observer, Blair boasted that he "fooled some of the most brilliant people in journalism" with his fraudulent stories and that he "couldn't stop laughing" at the newspaper's correction of his description of scenery in West Virginia he had never seen.
The obsession with Blair arises from the fact that the Times, a $7 billion company with a circulation of one million, is the gold standard in the US media for reporting news.
Its most important asset is its reputation, which has been badly tarnished by the fraud, plagiarism and inaccuracies found in 36 of 73 articles he wrote between October and April.
As in the case of AIB rogue trader John Rusnak, Times management did not heed the warning signs. In the US corporate culture, the bosses takes the blame when things go wrong and a price may have to be paid by hard-driving executive editor Howell Raines, who faces a furious, rebellious staff, according to sources in the paper, and by managing editor Gerald Boyd and publisher Arthur Sulzberger jnr.
A committee of 20 New York Times employees and two outside news executives has been appointed to review newsroom policies.
In his interview, Blair had only scathing comments for his bosses, except city editor Jonathan Landman whom he described as "honest". "To be called honest by Jayson Blair - there's something to treasure," Landman told the Observer.
Talk show hosts who dislike the "liberal" New York Times have had a field day speculating that Blair's missteps were ignored in the paper's drive for diversity. "Anyone who tells you that my race didn't play a role in my career at the New York Times is lying to you," said Blair, who is African-American.
Instead of accepting pariah status, Blair has drafted a five-page proposal for his agent David Vigliano to circulate to publishers and movie producers. This is what discredited journalists do, it seems. Janet Cooke's fake Pulitzer Prize-winning story of a young drug addict in the Washington Post earned her $380,000 from a movie company and Time magazine's Michael Finkel got a reported $300,000 for his story after profiling a non-existent African teenager called Youssouv Male.
Stephen Glass, fired five years ago by the New Republic for making up stories, has just published a fictional memoir of his deceptions.
"I was either going to kill myself or I was going to kill the journalist persona," Blair said,describing his personal meltdown. "So Jayson Blair the human being could live, Jayson Blair the journalist had to die."
Now Blair the author lives, though bookstores might hesitate to display his story in the "non-fiction" section.
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More people are heading for the exit in the Bush administration.
Environment boss Christine Todd Whitman has resigned after a series of policy differences with the administration and the Press Secretary, Ari Fleischer, said he was leaving for the speaking circuit. He wanted to do "something more relaxing - like dismantle live nuclear weapons", he said.
His tenure had some rocky moments. Shortly after the September 11th, attacks when comedian Bill Maher said the hijackers should not be called cowards, Fleischer warned that all Americans "need to watch what they say, watch what they do and this is not a time for remarks like that".
He once told a reporter that her question had been noted in the building. He accused former President Bill Clinton of escalating violence in the Middle East with misguided peace efforts, then returned to the press room to withdraw his remarks.
His credibility took a sharp knock when he announced that Bush would fly in a navy jet on to an aircraft carrier because the ship was out of helicopter range, which was not true. Fleischer admits his biggest blooper was advocating a "single bullet" to Saddam Hussein's head to prevent a war in Iraq. "I wish I had a silencer when I said that," he said.
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One of the last tasks Fleischer had to explain was why President Bush was allocated eight free tickets for a Rolling Stones concert valued at $2,533, as reported in his financial disclosure form for 2002. Six were from the then-head of Sony Entertainment, Tommy Mottola, and two from Secret Service agents.
They were for Bush's daughter Jenna, said Fleischer. "She had expressed interest in buying some tickets to the concert. Mr Mottola then offered to give them to her as a gift." The other two were paid for by the agents and not the Secret Service.
Among the gifts Mr Bush said he kept were a $5,728 boat, a $1,000 cowboy hat adorned with a silver Lone Star, a hard-cover copy of To Kill a Mockingbird signed by author Harper Lee and honorary membership to the Yale Club of New York City.
His assets include millions of dollars in Treasury notes and his 1,583-acre Texas ranch, which is valued at between $1 million and $5 million. The bulk of Bush's gross income of $856,056 came from interest. According to the returns, Bush is worth between $8.8 million and $21.9 million and the Vice President, Dick Cheney, between $19.1 million and $86.4 million.
Cheney reported at least $19 million in assets. His presents included a fly rod and reel worth $600 and three other handmade fly rods worth $2,200. Cheney often disappears from sight. Perhaps the sign on his door reads, Gone fishing.
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Texas state republican Debbie Riddle might have something to contribute to the debate in Ireland on free education.
"Where did this idea come from that everybody deserves free education? Free medical care? Free whatever?" she asked fellow legislators. "It comes from Moscow. From Russia. It comes straight out of the pit of hell."