Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: LA Times Fires Reporter for Inappropriate Relationship And Big Error (LA Times)

Monday, March 17, 2014

LA Times Fires Reporter for Inappropriate Relationship And Big Error (LA Times)

Hat Tip: Mediabistro's Morning Media Newsfeed

The Los Angeles Times dismissed an investigative reporter Friday after discovering he had an inappropriate relationship with someone who was a source for a front-page story that the newspaper says contained an error.

The editor's note read, "A front-page article in the Los Angeles Times on Dec. 7, 2013, was incorrect in reporting that Occidental College failed to disclose 27 alleged sexual assaults that occurred in 2012."

Separately, as they began looking into the complaint, Times editors learned from the author of the articles, staff writer Jason Felch, that he had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with someone who was a source for the Dec. 7 story and others.

Poynter / MediaWire The college approached the paper for a correction and the Times reviewed documents showing the 27 cases did not fall under the disclosure requirement, the paper said. Some were sexual harassment cases or inappropriate text messages, which are not covered by the act.

The Los Angeles Times fired investigative reporter Jason Felch after he disclosed he had “engaged in an inappropriate relationship” with someone who was a source for a Dec. 7 story on Occidental College’s handling of sexual assault allegations.

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The Associated Press said Felch issued a statement in which the reporter asserted the Dec. 7 story ran weeks before the relationship began and that he stopped using the source during their relationship.

While he issued a mea culpa: “I accept full responsibility for what I did and regret the damage it has done to my family and my colleagues at one of the nation’s great newspapers,” he also said he thought he was fired for the appearance of a conflict of interest.

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NYT Felch was dismissed Friday, March 14. Felch, 40, said by email on Sunday that Occidental had declined opportunities to comment on the initial article before publication, or to make officials available to be interviewed.

The first article was published before the relationship with the source began, Felch said. He said he did not rely on the person, who was not named by him or the newspaper, as a source after that. He did not describe the nature of the relationship. He was fired, he said, "for creating the appearance of a conflict of interest."

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