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Journalistic integrity is an attribute that should be displayed by anyone that considers themselves a writer, columnist, or newsman/woman (no sexism here Boston Globe). Then you have Kevin Cullen who, thanks solely to Kirk Minihane and WEEI's Kirk and Callahan Show, we now know has zero integrity period. You could almost go to the limit of the average person's morality to explain away getting some details wrong on a story as tragic as the Boston Marathon bombings, but Cullen broad jumped a line you don't cross.
It all began when this "journalist" wrote up a column remembering that fateful day five years ago. Kevin Cullen describes seeing survivors on television, reporting on a house fire, and hearing emergency sirens, which apparently brings him right back to April 15, 2013. The problem is, he wasn't there.
In an interview with Martha Kearney of BBC Radio (audio below) just a day following the bombing, Cullen described witnessing emergency personnel pulling down flags and debris to get to victims. He wasn't there. Cullen explained how a firefighter carried a girl away from the bomb site, later crawling around looking for her lost limb. This story was confirmed to have never taken place, even though Cullen went so far as to manufacture tears.
There's example after example of Cullen describing the events of the bombing, conveniently portraying himself as a direct witness. Cullen talked about hearing the final moments of Krystle Campbell. Cullen admitted he was at least a couple miles away from the site when the bombs went off, making his "reports" impossible. In his most recent Boston Globe article he talked about spotting Jane Richard (Martin Richard's younger sister) while driving to a local pub and crying afterword. Although seeming to be an unlikely story, why would you ever question it when a grown man describes crying over the quick interaction? Well now it's time to question everything.
Kevin Cullen has attempted to ride the coat tail of every victim of the Boston bombing he could. That coat tail being attention that I'm sure the victims sometimes wish would vanish. Cullen on the other hand has benefited from that attention. Selling himself as a salt of the earth journalist with special ties to the event that no other Boston media member has even dreamed of trying to peddle.
Now the Boston Globe has placed Cullen on leave while a third party investigates his work. With the Globe even previously needing a great improvement on it's image since the recent sexual harassment issues, you can't have a reporter that will have his work questioned from now to eternity. Cullen didn't just betray his readers, he went out and put on a Broadway'esk performance on multiple media platforms. That basically spat on everyone truly affected by the terror attack in Boston, and the victims he used to prop up his fables. It's time for an early retirement, or a career change to the performing arts.