Former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair chronicles his descent into journalistic infamy. Blair asserts that he lied and lied, and then he lied some more.From the book:
"I lied about where I had been, I lied about where I had found information, I lied about how I wrote the story. And these were no everyday little white lies...they were complete fantasies, embellished down to the tiniest made-up detail.
"I lied about a plane flight I never took, about sleeping in a car I never rented, about a landmark on a highway I had never been on. I lied about a guy who helped me at a gas station that I found on the Internet and about crossing railroad tracks I knew existed only because of aerial photographs in my private collection. I lied about a house I had never been to and decorations and furniture in a living room I had seen only in photographs in an archive maintained by Times photo editors.
"In the end-justifies-the-means environment I worked in, I had grown accustomed to lying. I told my share of lies and became as adept as anyone at getting away with it unquestioned and unscathed.
"I suspected the truth would either set me free or kill me."