About three years ago, a scandal befell The New York Times that threatened the paper’s reputation and journalistic muscle. A young reporter that had been hailed and promoted, Jayson Blair, was found to have plagiarized and fabricated several of his stories for the newspaper. He was fired. In the weeks that followed, the management of The Times made some changes to put the scandal to rest. Those changes cost the executive editor his job. But Howell Raines says it was part of his journey to getting back to doing what he wants to do and that is write and fish. Over four decades, Raines climbed the print journalism ladder, starting in Birmingham at the News and Post-Herald and making his way to New York and The Times. His new book, The
One That Got Away uses some scaley metaphors to highlight those events that allowed him to get back to doing the basic things he loves the most.