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One would think after the whole Jayson Blair fiasco at the New York Times and the mess at the Salt Lake Tribune involving the Elizabeth Smart case and the National Enquirer, journalists would want to bolster credibility, accuracy and ethics much more seriously. You would think that most journalists would want to prove that "that isn't me."

But then, last month, there was a sports editor in Roswell, N.M., who, rather than use facts, sources and his own writing ability to liven up a story, he had to turn to the cinema.

According to the Associate Press, Gregory M. Jones was dismissed by the Daily Record on June 17, the day after his article about a Father's Day golf tournament at the Roswell Country Club appeared on the sports page.

The managing editor of the New Mexico newspaper said the story contained three fictitious paragraphs referring to a Carl Spangler who claimed to work at the course. In "Caddyshack," Bill Murray played a golf course worker named Carl Spackler.

Jones quoted Spangler as saying he invented a new kind of grass for the tournament. The quotation in Jones' story is taken directly from "Caddyshack":

"'This is a hybrid ... of bluegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, featherbed bent and northern California sensemilia (sic),' Spangler was quoted in saying. 'The amazing stuff about this is that you can play 36 holes on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt that night on the stuff.'"

But it must have been Jones who was "stoned to the bejeezus-belt" when he wrote that story.

"It was tongue in cheek. It was sports. I was trying to be light and breezy. I was trying to put out a story that people might like to read," Jones said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.

No one is saying that humor doesn't belong in a newspaper and there are plenty of places for it.

But there is no place for plagiarism.

Jones could have written his golf story and saved his joke, correctly attributed, of course, for a column and it would have saved him his job and the newspaper some embarrassment.

Jones, 24, said he was shocked by his firing and did not intend to deceive his editors or readers, according to the Associated Press.

But what Jones does not understand is that is that news stories -- yes, even sports stories -- are supposed to be accurate and by interjecting his bit of fiction -- stolen fiction -- he violated the trust of his readers and the people he worked for.

There is nothing "tongue in cheek" or "light and breezy" about that.

The Roswell newspaper wrote a correction regarding the story.

The atmosphere of journalism right now seems to be one of redefinition.

Newspapers throughout the country are cautiously applying editor's notes telling readers exactly how stories -- especially the more controversial ones -- were put together. Sometimes these explanations become short articles in and of themselves, discussing what interviews took place, where the interviews happened, how the newspaper got the story idea, and the internal discussions at the newspaper that took place on what direction the reporting would go.

This is an apparent backlash newspapers seem to be taking in light of the Blair situation and other instances of plagiarism or stories that were simply made up and passed off as journalism. Some of these works of fiction that have been played off as fact actually won Pulitzer prizes before the true nature of the falsehoods were revealed.

Reporters obviously should have learned from their first days at journalism school, or their first days on the job, that lying and stealing are wrong. Not only are these activities unethical as a journalists, it should be apparent that they are unethical as a person.

The good that will come out of this, hopefully, will be renewed vigor by the industry to guard itself from those who would abuse the public trust that already has been battered and recommit themselves to honesty and integrity.

"Bleeding the Black Ink" is a weekly column that aims at getting readers better acquainted with the Craig Daily Press, the First Amendment and the newspaper industry. Do you have a question or an issue for an upcoming column? Call Terrance Vestal at 824-7031 or email him at tvestal@craigdailypress.com.