 |
|
Remember that WSJ reporter's private letter from Baghdad last week, telling how horrific the situation really is there? Well, it's not entirely clear if it's policy, or something else, but it appears the WSJ won't have Farnaz Fassihi reporting on Iraq until after the elections:
So was Fassihi told not to write about Iraq by WSJ editors until after Nov. 2? It seemed an easy matter to resolve, though — as it turns out — very little in this uneasy moment yields to easy resolution.
Paul Steiger, the Journal's managing editor, was unavailable by phone Thursday, but his spokesman, Robert Christie, accepted a question on his behalf and agreed to put it to the editor: Had Fassihi's e-mail been the subject of discussion among her editors and had they decided that its dissemination should prevent her from writing about Iraq until after Nov. 2?
Christie forwarded Steiger's response by e-mail: "Ms. Fassihi is coming out of Iraq shortly on a long planned vacation. That vacation was planned to, and will, extend past the election."
A follow-up question seemed in order and was sent to Steiger, through Christie, by e-mail: "If this correspondent wishes to write about Iraq for the Wall Street Journal, is she free to do so?"
Steiger's reply, via his spokesman, was this: "She is going on a long-scheduled vacation outside Iraq and has no plans to work during that time."
Fair-minded readers can make of that what they will.
What a way for the newspaper that employed Daniel Pearl to honor the brave. Honestly, if I had a subscription, I would cancel it.