Fareed Zakaria Leaves Newsweek, Joins Rival Time

Slate, citing Folio mag, notes the new direction of Newsweek's prominent blowhard.

Time magazine is scheduled to announce on Thursday that it has snatched Fareed Zakaria from one of its biggest rivals, Newsweek. Zakaria, a columnist for the Washington Post, editor of Newsweek's international edition, and host of Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN, will be named a contributing editor for Time and will pen a column that runs in the print edition of the magazine every other week. "The departure of Mr. Zakaria, a well-known columnist and television presence, is another blow to Newsweek, which was sold to Sidney Harman, an audio equipment mogul, at the beginning of the month," the New York Times' David Carr wrote on the paper's Media Decoder blog. Since the magazine was sold, Jon Meacham, the magazine's editor; Michael Isikoff, an investigative reporter; and columnist Evan Thomas have all announced they would be leaving. "Fareed is one of a small handful of global public intellectuals, and he has proven how important his thinking and writing is, over and over, especially since the attacks of Sept. 11," said Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time. "He is a kind of spokesman for a post-American world, and we think he represents an important piece of the puzzle for us." Zakaria said that moving from Newsweek to Time made sense because the magazine is owned by Time Warner, which also owns CNN, where his foreign affairs program airs every Sunday. "All of my work will now appear at one company, and instead of a kind of awkwardness, there is a very real synergy," he told Carr over lunch. Zakaria is also taking on a role as a consultant for HBO's documentary film unit, according to Folio. HBO, too, is owned by Time Warner.

Last Hack in Ulster made redundant

The end of the troubles means a cutback of Sunday Times news coverage in Northern Ireland, reports the mediaGuardian. That's why the Ulster office is no more.

The Sunday Times is closing down its Northern Irish operation and making its Ulster editor, Liam Clarke, redundant.

Clarke, who has worked for the paper for about 20 years and been on staff for more than 16 years, said he was leaving because the post had been made redundant "due to the changing news agenda".

The veteran has been at the forefront of some of the biggest and riskiest stories covered by the paper during the Northern Irish troubles.

But it seems that peace in the region, combined with budgetary restraints due to investment in new printing presses at the Sunday Times, have led to the closure of the post.

Clarke annnounced his departure to colleagues in an email, in which he said he had enjoyed his work.

"I had some great colleagues who I learnt a lot from.

"The redundancy settlement which is now being finalised should give me an opportunity to take stock without too much pressure to commit to anything full time or permanent straight away.

"People have suggested a few projects to me as the news of my departure filtered out. I plan to check all of these out in the coming weeks and, meantime, I am open to any other paying propositions.

"A drinks do might be a solitary affair as I was the only one in Belfast. However, we can have mini versions if any of you are over this way.

"Apart from that if I can be of any help do get in touch."

Clarke follows a number of news staffers out of the door over the past six months, including Whitehall editor Robert Winnett, social affairs editor John Elliott, night editor Maurice Chittenden, focus editor Paul Nuki, reporters Will Iredale and Gareth Walsh and education correspondent Geraldine Hackett.

Clarke's departure marks an end to one of the most turbulent news reporting careers on the paper, during which he frequently covered terrorism, extortion and crime.

In September last year, the Police Service of Northern Ireland agreed to pay substantial damages to Clarke after his home was raided following the publication of confidential political conversations between Sinn Féin and British government officials.

Clarke and his wife complained to police following the raid in May 2003, which was triggered by the publication of the transcripts of conversations between Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness and government officers, including Jonathan Powell, the prime minister's chief of staff.

The raid was carried out under the Official Secrets Act, but Clarke and Ms Johnston successfully argued that the wrong type of warrant had been used to gain entry to their home in Ballymena. They were held for five hours at Antrim police station, but never charged with any offence.

The transcripts were contained in the couple's unauthorised biography of Mr McGuinness entitled From Guns to Government, which contained the transcripts and suggested they had been obtained by phone-tapping. The tapes, it has been alleged, were made by the security services or the police.

Military mindset spins the press

The US military's snarlingly defensive spin-meisters showed their true colors in a Haditha talking points memo written by four officers last January. It was part of the evidence submitted at a Camp Pendleton hearing to determine whether some US Marines should face court martial for murder after 24 Iraqi civilians were killed.

The NY Times ran excerpts from a five-pager that mulled over how to respond to Time's veteran war reporter, Tim McGirk. Stonewalling by the military put the Haditha story on the backburner for several weeks until Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) broadcast his misgivings that these killings of old folks and children in their beds might have been "in cold blood". Was there a cover-up?
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NY Times reporter Paul von Zielbauer, attended the preliminary military hearing in San Diego then highlighted how the marines were dismissive and suspicious of anyone who confronts them with difficult questions. They conceal rather than inform, and obviously prefer that their heroics are extolled by embedded hacks. The Los Angeles Times had quoted from part of the same scary memo last week.

McGirk: How many marines were killed and wounded in the I.E.D. attack that morning?

Memo: If it bleeds, it leads. This question is McGirk’s attempt to get good bloody gouge on the situation. He will most likely use the information he gains from this answer as an attention gainer.

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McGirk: How many marines were involved in the killings?

Memo: First off, we don’t know what you’re talking about when you say “killings.” One of our squads reinforced by a squad of Iraqi Army soldiers were engaged by an enemy initiated ambush on the 19th that killed one American marine and seriously injured two others. We will not justify that question with a response. Theme: Legitimate engagement: we will not acknowledge this reporter’s attempt to stain the engagement with the misnomer “killings.”

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McGirk: Are the marines in this unit still serving in Haditha?

Memo: Yes, we are still fighting terrorists of Al Qaida in Iraq in Haditha. (“Fighting terrorists associated with Al Qaida” is stronger language than “serving.” The American people will side more with someone actively fighting a terrorist organization that is tied to 9/11 than with someone who is idly “serving,” like in a way one “serves” a casserole. It’s semantics, but in reporting and journalism, words spin the story.)

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