I stepped on a land mine named Jayson Blair.

Early career
Raines earned a bachelor's degree from Birmingham-Southern College in 1964 and later a master's in English from The University of Alabama which also awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1993. As an account of the journalistic episode in general and more specifically as an attempt to favorably present his role in it the book was tepidly received. During a closed meeting among reporters the deputy metropolitan editor Joe Sexton was quoted as telling Raines and the managing editor Gerald Boyd "I believe that at a deep level you guys have lost the confidence of many parts of the newsroom.

Howell Hiram Raines (born February 5 1943 in Birmingham Alabama) is an American journalist. He was Executive Editor of The New York Times from 2001 until he left in 2003 in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal. In 2008 he became a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio writing the magazine's media column.