Editor's Relationship With G.E.'s Former Chief Results in a Resignation
The New York Times
March 9, 2002
The editor of the Harvard Business
Review resigned yesterday after
members of her staff complained that the
preparation of an interview she conducted
with John F. Welch Jr. was compromised
by her relationship with Mr. Welch, the
former chairman and chief executive of
General Electric).
The editor, Suzy Wetlaufer, told friends
and colleagues about her decision in an e-mail message four days after an article
in The Wall Street Journal reported the news of a growing staff rebellion.
"There is no question that the recent controversy has caused many on the staff to
lose confidence in my ability to steer this organization," she wrote. She said she
would return next month as an editor at large.
The Business Review brouhaha began late last year, after Ms. Wetlaufer
interviewed Mr. Welch. As is the custom with the magazine's question-and- answer
articles, but contrary to journalistic convention, subjects get the opportunity to
refine the article as it goes through the editing process.
Ms. Wetlaufer has acknowledged that during that time she became too close to Mr.
Welch and that their relationship could lead others to question both her and the
magazine's objectivity. In late December, she asked her boss, Walter Kiechel, the
editorial director of Harvard Business School Publishing, to withdraw the article;
instead the interview was reassigned and published in the February issue of the
monthly magazine.
Ms. Wetlaufer declined to comment on her resignation or her relationship with Mr.
Welch, and Mr. Kiechel said it was the magazine's policy not to speak about
personnel matters.
Rosanne Badowski, a spokeswoman for Mr. Welch, told
The Associated Press that he would not comment on his
relationship with Ms. Wetlaufer, saying it was a personal
matter.
nytimes.com |
