MORE ON BRAGG

Jack Shafer is shaken out of his counter-intuitive spin-for-Howell mode by the Bragg story. He has the goods on other Bragg misdemeanors. Bragg has a long history of faking by-lines, and ripping off unpaid stringers. It turns out that he merely spent a total of two hours in Apalachicola for that elaborate, evocative, deeply reported story. He never even met any of the people quoted. Why is this any better than Jayson Blair? Bragg is unrepentant. And he gets suspended for two weeks. More evidence of Raines favoritism. This blatant attempt to bury this news, highlight only one story of Bragg’s, and give him such a light punishment could only serve to intensify the anger that many ethical journalists, who aren’t Raines suck-ups at the Times, now feel.