Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Jayson Blair's Rainbow Connection
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 27, 2004
Modified Mar 6, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 27, 2004
Modified Mar 6, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The Daily News has an exclusive first look at Jayson Blair's book. And, holy crap, it has a perfect three-act structure, with this climactic description courtesy of the DN:
Blair - at times self-pitying, at times self-righteous - goes into greater, often lurid detail about how he came unhinged and was able to slip a host of untruths past his editors into print.
He was ready to hang himself with his belt the night before he resigned his job, but stopped himself, he writes, when he realized he had been sober for more than a year and had found love with a Times colleague.
"No matter how bad this gets," he recalls thinking at the time, "your life, regardless of what any outsider may think, is better."
Life-affirming media story! Now we know why Katie Couric and NBC are hot to interview him.
Other revelations in the book: Blair drank during college ("I would start my mornings with a glass of scotch ... and end my day with a glass by my side, sitting in bed, still drinking") just like everyone else who went to college; did coke at the Times office but was "tired of buying bottles of nose spray" but "was not ready to give up cocaine though. ... After all, some of my best stories were inspired by drug-fueled writing"; and The Times "was a cutthroat culture that leaves no rivals standing." Yeah, not so shocking. But there is this:
• There were times when drugs "loosened myself enough to make advances on women, and there were other less memorable moments where I performed, or received, a sexual favor for drugs. When I was on the performing end, it was usually implicit that it was for drugs."
• Zuza [my girlfriend] took pictures of me prancing around the newsroom wearing a Persian head wrap that covered my face, Kermit the Frog on my shoulders and a giant fake fur coat. I did a full tour de newsroom in this peculiar uniform. It is hard to know what I was feeling, other than it was exhilarating to shock everyone. Perhaps I was crying out for attention."
Sexual favors for drugs during a downward spiral? Okay, that seems par for the course. But dragging Kermit the Frog into this? For shame, Jayson Blair!
If you must, read Burning Down My Masters' House. But you'll learn almost as much when you just watch the interviews with Katie Couric.
Tagged
books
cocaine
college
culture
daily news
drinking
drugs
house
interview
jayson blair
katie couric
love
media
nbc
new york
new york daily news
news
Perhaps I
pictures
the daily news
the times
When I
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
Thanks to Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian, Timothée Chalamet and more, the rideshare program is having a moment.
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Published Oct 8, 2026
Is NYC’s hottest attraction the free observation deck at 1 Centre Street?
If you're playing tourist in your own town, this is an in-demand option.
By
James Ramsay
Arts & Entertainment
Is NYC’s hottest attraction the free observation deck at 1 Centre Street?
If you're playing tourist in your own town, this is an in-demand option.
By
James Ramsay
What happens when NYC kids take lessons in rock music? Really good bands.
By
Jayson Greene
Inside a photographer's journey to visit every neighborhood in New York City
By
Sonia Rao
Banned books and Winnie the Pooh: October in NYC libraries
By
Alec Hamilton
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .