One Helluva Correction

Posted Monday, May 19, 2003 12:00 am

By: Mark Fitzgerald Everyone agreed The New York Times report on Jayson Blair's misdeeds published on Mother's Day was long. But how long was it?

The Associated Press said it was a 7,500-word story.

Albert R. Hunt, columnist for The Wall Street Journal, counted 14,500 words in the "comprehensive" account, while a Journal news story referred to an "article of more than 7,200 words." The Washington Post, Newsday in Melville, N.Y., and The Sun in Baltimore said the package weighed in at 13,800. Financial Times columnist Gerard Baker had it at 10,000.

The official count, according to New York Times Co. spokeswoman Catherine J. Mathis: 6,630 words in the front-page article and its two-page jump, and 7,397 words in the two-page examination of Blair's flawed articles, for a total of 14,027 -- not counting a separate 402-word "Editor's Note."

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One Helluva Correction

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