NYT fabricator plans movie review on peer

NEW YORK -- Jayson Blair, the former New York Times reporter who resigned amid accusations of plagiarism and fraud, has been commissioned to write an article for Esquire, the magazine said Friday.

Blair, who the newspaper said embellished parts of dozens of reports, will review the movie version of the Stephen Glass story, "Shattered Glass," said David Granger, editor in chief of the men's magazine.

"We thought it was a clever way to do a movie review, to have the most infamous fabricator review another infamous fabricator," said Granger.

"It'll be a short review, about 1,000 words," he said.

The movie tells the story of Glass, who left The New Republic in 1998 after editors learned he had fabricated stories for their magazine and others where he freelanced.

Granger said Blair has said he will donate his fee for the article to two charities, one for the protection of journalists and one for research into depression. Granger said he did not know the names of the organizations.

The New York Post, which first reported the story Friday, also said that Blair will write about workplace pressures for the women's magazine Jane. Fairchild Publications, which publishes Jane, declined to comment Friday.

Granger declined to disclose how much Esquire would pay Blair for the movie review.

The scandal surrounding the 27-year-old former national correspondent led to the resignations of Times executive editor Howell Raines and managing editor Gerald Boyd.