Second USA Today editor departs in reporter scandal; newspaper reveals investigation findings

USA Today is losing a second high-level editor from a management upheaval touched off by a stinging report on deceptions and fabrications by a former star reporter. <br><br>Hal Ritter, the newspaper's

Friday, April 23rd 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

USA Today is losing a second high-level editor from a management upheaval touched off by a stinging report on deceptions and fabrications by a former star reporter.

Hal Ritter, the newspaper's managing editor of news, submitted his resignation Thursday to publisher Craig Moon. He had been in his current role since 1995 and had worked at the paper since it was founded in 1982.

The newspaper's top editor, Karen Jurgensen, retired abruptly Tuesday at the age of 55.

Also on Thursday, Executive Editor Brian Gallagher told staff members he will pursue another post at the paper after Jurgensen's successor is named. Moon is expected to do so next week.

Ritter's departure came on the same day the newspaper revealed the conclusions of an investigation by three veteran journalists into the work of former star reporter Jack Kelley.

Concerns about Kelley's work should have spurred editors to investigate long ago, according to the panel, which cited poor editorial oversight and a ``virus'' of fear that helped propagate the improprieties.

In a note Moon distributed to the paper's staff, Ritter said his departure will ``make it easier for my colleagues in News to continue the job of making the newspaper even greater.''

The panel's review found Kelley committed many acts of fraudulent reporting for more than a decade, including fabricating parts of at least 20 stories and stealing at least 100 passages from other news organizations.

The scandal has deeply embarrassed USA Today, the nation's largest-selling newspaper, and paralleled a debacle last year at The New York Times involving former reporter Jayson Blair.

The panel's findings, which were delivered to Moon last week, were detailed in a full page of articles in USA Today's Thursday editions.

The panel said USA Today's policies as well as routine editing procedures ``should have raised dark shadows of doubt about Kelley's work, had his editors been vigilant and diligent. They were not.''

Before Ritter's resignation, Moon said in an interview that he anticipated making other personnel changes but had declined to be more specific. He also said he expected to keep Kelley's wife, Jacki, in her current position as the newspaper's top advertising executive.

As for addressing the panel's concerns about a fearful culture in the newsroom, Moon said: ``I think new leadership fixes that.''

Unlike Blair, who was trying to make a name for himself, Kelley was a well-established star. His work was held up to others as an example, he was given plum foreign assignments and asked to speak to various groups on behalf of the newspaper. He also co-authored two books with USA Today's founder, Al Neuharth.

Kelley, 43, resigned in January after admitting to trying to deceive a team of editors examining the veracity of his work. A subsequent review by the outside experts found that Kelley had engaged in extensive fakery and plagiarism dating back as early as 1991.

Until now Kelley had stood by his work, admitting only to attempting to deceive the initial investigation. But in a statement issued to the paper through his lawyers, Kelley acknowledged making ``a number of serious mistakes that violate the values that are most important to me as a person and as a journalist,'' he said.

``I recognize that I cannot make amends for the harm I have caused to my family, friends and colleagues. Nor can I make it up to readers who depend upon good journalism to understand a chaotic and confusing world. I can only offer my sincere apology to those I have let down,'' Kelley said.

A lawyer for Kelley, Lisa J. Banks, declined to make any further comment.

The outside panel of experts _ John Seigenthaler, Bill Kovach and Bill Hilliard _ sharply criticized USA Today's management in their 28-page report. Among their conclusions were that the newspaper failed to act on early warnings of problems with Kelley's work.

The editors spent more than 10 weeks interviewing current and former USA Today staffers in their investigation, which was also aided by several reporters at the paper.

Seigenthaler, the head of the panel, is a former editor and publisher of The Tennessean in Nashville and the founding editorial director of USA Today. Kovach is chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists and former chief of the Washington bureau for The New York Times. Hilliard is a former editor of The Oregonian in Portland.