Bob Herbert on Jayson Blair in Truth, Lies and Subtext:

The idea that blacks can get away with the journalistic equivalent of murder at The Times because they are black is preposterous. There's a real shortage of black reporters, editors and columnists at The Times. But the few who are here are doing fine and serious work day in and day out and don't deserve to be stigmatized by people who can see them only through the prism of a stereotype.

The problem with American newsrooms is too little diversity, not too much. Blacks have always faced discrimination and maddening double standards in the newsroom, and they continue to do so. So do women, Latinos and many other groups that are not part of the traditional newsroom in-crowd.

So let's be real. Discrimination in the newsroom --in hiring, in the quality of assignments and in promotions -- is a much more pervasive problem than Jayson Blair's aberrant behavior. A black reporter told me angrily last week, "After hundreds of years in America, we are still on probation."