USA Today

USA Today is a national American newspaper published by the Gannett Corporation. The paper has the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States (averaging over 2.25 million copies every weekday), and among English-language broadsheets, it comes second world-wide, behind The Times of India. Its circulation figures are a matter of some dispute, however, as USA Today has many contracts ensuring distribution in hotels, often to customers unaware they are paying for the newspaper. USA Today is distributed to all 50 states and was founded by Allen "Al" Neuharth.

Journalistic fraud

In March 2004, the newspaper was hit by a major scandal when it was revealed that Jack Kelley, a long-time USA Today correspondent and nominee for the Pulitzer Prize, had been fabricating stories. The newspaper did an extensive review of Kelley's stories, including sending investigators to Cuba, Israel and Jordan, and sifting through stacks of hotel records to determine if Kelley was in the locations he claimed to be filing stories from. Kelley resigned, but denied the charges. The USA Today publisher, Craig Moon, issued a public apology on the front page of the newspaper. Many remarked on the similarity of this scandal to that of the Jayson Blair situation at the New York Times, although it received less national attention.

Related Topics:
March - 2004 - Jack Kelley - Pulitzer Prize - Cuba - Israel - Jordan - Craig Moon - Jayson Blair - New York Times

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

See also: Journalistic fraud

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~