Hire for ability

THE Jayson Blair scandal at the New York Times has as its origin a desire to achieve “diversity” at the expense of ability, and “political correctness” at the expense of truth (“A Sweeping Journalistic Mea Culpa,” by Tim Rutten, May 12).

Long before the scandal broke, upper management at the New York Times had been warned by his immediate supervisors to remove Blair from the staff. It looks to me that Blair was given preferential treatment due to his race and the race of his mentor, Gerald Boyd. Proving once again that ability, not race, should be the determining criterion.

Loren Kizzia

West Covina