PressEthic

Gerald Boyd died yesterday at the age of 56. Boyd was known for breaking barriers at The New York Times, becoming the first black metro and managing editor. For all of the accolades, his career at The Times was undone in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal.

In an obituary by Felicity Barringer, the reporter points out Boyd should be remembered for so much more:

Mr. Boyd’s career, which took him from the end of the civil rights era to the beginning of the Internet era, was built on competitiveness and a determination to get the story right. As he rose in prominence, he became a beacon of possibility for aspiring black journalists.

Giving a lecture in honor of one of his early editors in St. Louis a few years ago, he told the hometown audience, "Throughout my life I have enjoyed both the blessing and the burden of being the first black this and the first black that, and like many minorities and women who succeed, I’ve often felt alone."

In an era when newsrooms lacked diversity -- both in race and sex -- Boyd cleared the way for many, and, for that, he should be remembered fondly. As too often even today, newsrooms lack diversity, which hurts the overall product by limiting view points and insights.

The Jayson Blair scandal, however, cost Boyd his career at The Times. In "Hard News," Seth Mnookin lays a great deal of the blame at Boyd's feet. "Blair may have been hired and promoted because he was African-American, but he was also bolstered by his apparent closeness with Gerald Boyd, Raines’ chief assistant," wrote Rita Radostitz in a book review for Etude. Boyd refuted this accusation.

Yet while the Blair scandal is forever linked to Boyd, there is another side as well: "Mr. Boyd went on to lead coverage that won the newspaper three Pulitzers: for articles about the first World Trade Center bombing, for a series on children of poverty, and for a series on the complexities of race relations in the United States. He also shared the leadership of The Times during the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, coverage that earned six Pulitzer prizes," wrote Barringer.

Mnookin and Barringer's depictions remind us that when judging a life it is not so easy to paint someone a hero or villian. Instead, there is far more nuance, as was the case in Boyd's life.

Boyd was troubled by the Blair scandal and the legacy that it left on his life. Even before the scandal, Barringer quoted him: "Many of you know I’ve spent my life trying to be a good journalist. But what matters more to me is whether I’ve been a good man and a decent man."