Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Where In The World Is John Burns?

John Burns


This is not a post for everyone because it's an inside the New York Times water cooler stuff and probably only fans of the "Grey Lady" will appreciate it.

John Burns was a recurrent presence on TV news, reporting from trouble spots around the globe. A kind of male Christiane Amanpour. He also wrote in depth feature articles for the NYT and was very good at his craft. Then he disappeared for awhile only to resurface as a 'helper' to Rachel Donadio in Rome reporting on the election of Benedict XVI.

Last Sunday, I was watching posthumous Q&A interview on C-SPAN with Michael Hastings a Rolling Stone's reporter and author. [Go to 'Watch This Program' on the right side of the web page.] During the interview Hastings said some alarming things about John Burns. Burns was a mouth piece for the military and Stanley McChrystal and his reporting my have been biased in that regard (my interpretation). So, is this why he was bumped up to London bureau chief? And now we learn that Burns has been moved from that position to writing about "enterprising stories about the world of sports."

If you have an interest in this topic, Google: Michael Hastings on John Burns



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