David Fox
Reuters editor quits over unpublished story
Friday 03 June 2011
Andrew Marshall, a senior editor in Singapore, has resigned over a story that he said Reuters refused to run.
Marshall, who was formally disciplined in April over what Reuters termed an “insensitive and inappropriate” remark in a company Internet chat room, posted the following on Facebook and Twitter on Thursday: “I just officially resigned from Reuters, so that I can publish a very important story on Thailand they refused to run. Watch this space.”
Marshall joined Reuters in 1994 as a graduate trainee and has reported from more than 25 countries, including conflicts in Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, the Palestinian Territories and East Timor. He was previously based in Jakarta, Bangkok, Baghdad and Dubai. In Singapore he was responsible for coverage of emerging and frontier Asia – Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South East Asia and Mongolia.
The incident that prompted his reprimand also resulted in the summary dismissal of Jakarta bureau chief David Fox for making a crude comment in response to Marshall’s remark. Fox was on temporary assignment to Tokyo at the time.
● Andrew Marshall's blog
Marshall, who was formally disciplined in April over what Reuters termed an “insensitive and inappropriate” remark in a company Internet chat room, posted the following on Facebook and Twitter on Thursday: “I just officially resigned from Reuters, so that I can publish a very important story on Thailand they refused to run. Watch this space.”
Marshall joined Reuters in 1994 as a graduate trainee and has reported from more than 25 countries, including conflicts in Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, the Palestinian Territories and East Timor. He was previously based in Jakarta, Bangkok, Baghdad and Dubai. In Singapore he was responsible for coverage of emerging and frontier Asia – Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South East Asia and Mongolia.
The incident that prompted his reprimand also resulted in the summary dismissal of Jakarta bureau chief David Fox for making a crude comment in response to Marshall’s remark. Fox was on temporary assignment to Tokyo at the time.
● Andrew Marshall's blog
Reuters fires bureau chief over crude remark
Friday 15 April 2011
Fox, who arrived in Indonesia in January to become Jakarta bureau chief, was on temporary assignment to Tokyo last month to cover the aftermath of the recent earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown in Japan.
His offending remark was made in an overnight exchange with Andrew Marshall, a senior editor on the Asia desk in Singapore. At a disciplinary meeting this week Marshall was reprimanded and given a written warning for his part in the online exchange [● Reuters editor punished for chat room remark]. Other journalists, mostly in other regions, were also in the chat room, a virtual space created specifically for Reuters people involved in the Japan disaster story, and saw the remarks of both men.
Fox, from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, was dismissed without possibility of appeal. He joined Reuters in 1991.
