April 10, 2005

NIGHT OF THE LONG CLAWS (via Tom Morin):

Times' Iraq bureau grief (Lloyd Grove, 4/07/05, NY Daily News)

The perils of Iraq have nothing on the nasty fracas erupting between former New York Times Baghdad Bureau Chief Susan Sachs and her ex-colleagues, Times Baghdad correspondents Dexter Filkins and John Burns.

The Gray Lady's management has just fired Sachs, a widely respected and experienced journalist who has tangled bitterly with Burns and Filkins, over allegations that she sent anonymous letters and an E-mail to their wives alleging bad behavior with women in the war zone.

Sachs - who didn't respond to a message left for her in France yesterday - has stoutly denied the charges, and the Newspaper Guild is defending her in arbitration proceedings against The Times.


Hopefully the charges are untrue, they're the two best correspondents the Times has.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 10, 2005 6:59 PM
Comments

They probably are true. Being a good journalist seems to be at odds with being a good person.

Posted by: Brandon at April 10, 2005 7:14 PM

A compliment akin to being the world's tallest midget. That said, I have been impressed with Burns' reporting and analysis at times.

Posted by: Rick T. at April 10, 2005 7:24 PM

is mary hartman running the nyt ? what a pathetic joke they have become. who in there right mind assigns the times any credibility or authority whatsoever ?

Posted by: cjm at April 10, 2005 8:27 PM

No mention of Karl Rove?

Posted by: jim hamlen at April 10, 2005 9:50 PM

It was Burns who wrote the first looted museum story 2 yeas ago. I took a lot of effort to wrestle that one down, despite the clear incoherence of Burn's reporting. I have not forgiven him.

CJM: you expect them to do a better job in Bagdahd than NYC? this is the paper that published MoDo Krugman and Frank Rich.

Posted by: Robert Schwartz at April 10, 2005 10:11 PM

Robert Schwartz:

He's been very critical of the biases and lapses of the MSM since then, however. He absolutely hammered some of his colleagues for playing down the barbaric nature of Saddam's regime.

Posted by: Matt Murphy at April 10, 2005 10:15 PM

Never Forget. Never Forgive.

Posted by: Robert Schwartz at April 11, 2005 12:46 AM
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