Jack Kelley is a former reporter for ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

''. Kelley resigned in 2004 following a scandal.

Scandal

Kelley is best known for his professional downfall in 2004, when it was revealed that he had long been fabricating stories, going so far as to write up scripts so associates could pretend to be sources during an investigation of his actions by others at the newspaper. The newspaper conducted an extensive review of Kelley's stories, sending investigators (including reporter and former mid-level editor Mark Memmott) to

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, Israel, and

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

to check his work and sift through stacks of hotel records to determine if Kelley was where he claimed to be when filing stories. On 26 January 2004,

Nataša Kandić Nataša Kandić ( sr-cyr, Наташа Кандић; born 16 December 1946) is a Serbian human rights activist and coordinator of the RECOM Reconciliation Network, founder and ex-executive director of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), an orga ...

of the

Humanitarian Law Center Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) ( sr-Latn, Fond za Humanitarno pravo, ) is a Serbian non-governmental organisation with offices in Belgrade, Serbia, and Pristina, Kosovo.

in Belgrade disputed his account of using her as a source for a July 1999 front-page story on a typed Yugoslav Army order to "cleanse" a village in

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

. The same month, Kelley resigned but denied the charges. The ''USA Today'' publisher, Craig Moon, issued a public apology on the front page of the newspaper. The scandal led to the resignations of two key staff members at the newspaper, top editor Karen Jurgensen and News section managing editor Hal Ritter in April 2004.

Aftermath

Kelley sometimes did volunteer services with

Free the Children WE Charity (), formerly known as Free the Children (), is an international development charity and youth empowerment movement founded in 1995 by human rights advocates Marc and Craig Kielburger. The organization implemented development progra ...

. He lives with his wife, Jacki Kelley, the global chief executive for

Universal McCann Universal McCann (UM) is an international media and advertising agency. UM is a member of Interpublic Group, operating under the IPG Mediabrands branch. Some of its regional offices are known as Universal Media rather than Universal McCann but a ...

, a media agency based in New York, in

New Canaan, Connecticut New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region. About an hour from New York City by train, the town ...

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male journalists University of Maryland, College Park alumni USA Today journalists Journalistic hoaxes {{US-journalist-20thC-stub

Scandal

Aftermath

See also

References