The Jayson Blair scandal was a 2003 journalism controversy at The New York Times involving reporter Jayson Blair, who fabricated details and plagiarized material in at least 36 stories over several years. The scandal was exposed on 2003-05-11 when Times public editor Howell Raines confirmed widespread errors. It led to Blair's resignation on the same day, followed by the resignations of executive editor Howell Raines and managing editor Gerald Boyd on 2003-06-05. The Times published a 7,200-word editors' note detailing the extent of the misconduct. No formal court case, lawsuit, or legal proceedings resulted from the scandal; it was addressed internally through journalistic accountability measures and policy changes. The incident significantly damaged the Times' credibility and prompted industry-wide discussions on reporting standards.