Boston Globe suspends columnist for Marathon bombing remarks

BOSTON — The Boston Globe has suspended columnist Kevin Cullen without pay for three months after inconsistencies were found in his remarks following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

Newspaper publisher John Henry and editor Brian McGrory announced Friday an independent review found Cullen likely fabricated some anecdotes he shared in interviews after the bombing, which killed three people and injured hundreds more.

The review also noted an uncorrected error in one of Cullen's marathon bombing columns but didn't find signs of fabrication in other works.

Cullen, who was part of the Globe team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2014, didn't immediately comment, but Henry and McGrory say he has apologized.

Cullen has been on paid leave since April, when Boston sports radio station WEEI noted inconsistencies in Cullen's work and the paper launched its investigation.

In a statement, Henry and McGrory wrote that, upon his return, Cullen will work as a general assignment reporter for the first two months before going back to working as a columnist.Cullen will also be barred from any outside broadcast interviews for the first six months and his future appearances will be given more editorial scrutiny.

“Our review leads us to a conclusion that Mr. Cullen damaged his credibility,” Henry and McGrory wrote. “These were serious violations for any journalist and for the Globe, which relies on its journalists to adhere to the same high standards of ethics and accuracy when appearing on other platforms. Our review also leads us to believe that Mr. Cullen did not commit irrevocable damage.”

Henry and McGrory's statement mentioned an email Cullen sent out in May where he said, “I own what I did,” and added, “I accept responsibility for these shortcomings and I’m sorry that it has allowed some to attack the Globe itself.”

Cullen did not comment on the issue on Friday.

Henry and McGrory wrote that when the Globe falls short of accuracy, “we must immediately fix what went wrong — and we do.”

“While there was chaos unfolding the entire week of the Boston Marathon bombings, it’s in the most trying circumstances that we must perform at our very best,” they wrote. “And on all other fronts in our coverage of the bombings, the Globe did just that, including correcting, immediately and transparently, another mistake in our coverage that week.”

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_{The Associated Press contributed to this report}

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