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Charles Lane (journalist)

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Charles Lane
Born1961 (age 62–63)
EducationHarvard University (BA)
Yale University (MSL)[1]
OccupationJournalist
Children3

Charles Lane (born 1961) is an American journalist and editor who is deputy opinion editor for The Washington Post and a regular guest on the Fox News Channel. He was the editor of The New Republic from 1997 to 1999. During his tenure, Lane oversaw the work of Stephen Glass, a staff reporter who fabricated portions of all or some of the 41 articles he had written for the magazine,[2] in one of the largest fabrication scandals of contemporary American journalism. After leaving the New Republic, Lane went to work for the Post, where, from 2000 to 2007, he covered the Supreme Court of the United States[3][4] and issues related to the criminal justice system and judicial matters. He has since joined the newspaper's editorial page.

Early life and education

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Born to a Jewish family[5] in 1961, Lane attended Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, where he was managing editor of the school newspaper, The Tattler. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in social studies from Harvard University in 1983.[6] As a Knight Fellow, he earned a Master of Studies in Law from Yale Law School in 1997.[7] He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[8]

Career

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Lane is a former foreign correspondent for Newsweek and served briefly as the magazine's Berlin bureau chief. For his coverage in Newsweek of the former Yugoslavia, Lane earned a Citation of Excellence from the Overseas Press Club."[9]

The New Republic's owner, Marty Peretz, appointed Lane as editor in 1997 after firing then-editor Michael Kelly.[10]

In 1998, one of the worst journalistic scandals in contemporary American history arose at The New Republic when fabricated reporting by a staff writer, Stephen Glass, was discovered. Lane fired Glass.[11] The Glass fabrications constituted "the greatest scandal in the magazine's history and marked a decade of waning influence and mounting financial losses," The New York Times would later report.[12]

When Lane learned in 1999 that Peretz was planning to replace Lane with Peter Beinart, Lane only first found out about it from the media.[13][14][12]

Lane became an editorial writer for The Washington Post. Later, Lane covered the Supreme Court for the Post, before then rejoining the Post's editorial board in 2007. During his second stint on the newspaper's editorial board, Lane wrote primarily about fiscal and economic policy.[8]

Lane has also taught journalism part-time at Georgetown University in Washington, DC and at Princeton University.[7]

In 2008 Lane published The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction, about the Colfax massacre of 1873 in Louisiana of blacks by white militia, including the murder of surrendered prisoners.[citation needed] The book received a favorable review in the New York Times.[15] He also authored the nonfiction book Freedom's Detective, which was published in 2017.

Controversies

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In 2009, Lane was criticized for an opinion column he wrote for the Post, "Medical Marijuana Is An Insult to Our Intelligence," in which he belittled a woman named Angel Raich, who was a plaintiff in a Supreme Court case claiming a right to medical marijuana. Lane wrote of Raich that she "might consider a consultation for hypochondria, or perhaps marijuana dependency."

The Post subsequently published a clarification to the column explaining that Raich was "about to undergo an operation to repair... a benign brain tumor." Raich had been facing a "highly risky surgery – surgery that her doctors had originally ruled out because it is too dangerous — because her brain tumor has now become life-threatening."

In 2010, Lane was criticized for comments he made about overweight or obese people. In a blog post in the Post, he attempted to discredit an Agriculture Department study that concluded that millions of Americans faced hunger or "food insecurity."[16][17]

In 2011, Lane wrote that he hoped that Democratic Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was unable to speak as a result of having been shot in the head a few weeks earlier, would speak out against union workers in Wisconsin if she "could speak normally".[18] Lane's statement was criticized by some as exploitative and insensitive. Stephen Benen wrote in the Washington Monthly: "Keep in mind, Charles Lane isn't some Fox News personality. I've seen him publish a variety of worthwhile commentaries in recent years. But reading this, I can't imagine what he was thinking."[19][20][21]

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The 1998 journalism scandal at The New Republic was the subject of the 2003 film Shattered Glass. Lane was portrayed by actor Peter Sarsgaard.[22] Lane himself appears on the commentary on the DVD, alongside writer and director Billy Ray. After the film was released, Lane was interviewed by Terry Gross in an episode of Fresh Air.[23][24]

In 2003, Glass published a biographical novel entitled The Fabulist about his career of journalistic fabrication. A character named "Robert Underwood" was a significant figure in the novel and interpreted as a fictionalized version of Lane. Reviewing the book for the Post, writer and critic Chris Lehmann wrote that the Underwood character "is meant to induce in-the-know readers to think poorly of Charles Lane." Glass wrote of Lane/Underwood: "Underwood is a domineering, macho control freak. Glass's idea of meting out punishment to this fictional alter ego of his former boss is to impugn his masculinity; even as his office reeks with 'the hairy-chested smell of a man rising to the occasion.'"[25]

Personal life

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Lane is married to a German immigrant from the former East Berlin. They have three children.[5]

Notes

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  1. ^ "Charles Lane - The Washington Post". washingtonpost.com. 13 October 2022. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Stephen Glass is still retracting his fabricated stories — 18 years later". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  3. ^ Lane, Charles. "Full Court Press". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2007.
  4. ^ "Washington Post Is Now Chuck Lane's Show". wonkette.com. 16 February 2010. Archived from the original on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  5. ^ a b Charles, Charles (30 May 2017). "Why I shed tears this Memorial Day". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 5 December 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  6. ^ "Charles Lane". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Bio - Charles Lane". charlesmarklane.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Charles Lane". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  9. ^ "Crimes of War Project The Book – Contributors". The Crimes of War Project. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 19 October 2007.
  10. ^ Pogrebin, Robin (6 September 1997). "New Republic Editor Dismissed Over Criticism". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 24 January 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  11. ^ Penenberg, Adam L. (11 May 1998). "Lies, damn lies and fiction". Forbes. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  12. ^ a b Rodrick, Stephen (24 January 2011). "Martin Peretz Is Not Sorry. About Anything". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 January 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  13. ^ Elder, Sean (1 December 1999). "The new kid at the New Republic". Salon. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  14. ^ "Lane Steps Down at the New Republic". www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  15. ^ Boyle, Kevin (18 May 2008). "White Terrorists". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  16. ^ "Are Americans really 'food insecure'?". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  17. ^ "Charles Lane, The Washington Post's Unsung Champion Of The Rich And Powerful". Washington City Paper. 15 October 2010. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  18. ^ "Tyranny in Wisconsin, Part 4". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  19. ^ "The Wrong Lane". Washington Monthly. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  20. ^ "Helpful WaPo Columnist Tells Us What Giffords Would Think About Wisconsin". Wonkette. 22 February 2011. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  21. ^ "Lost Weekend". Vanity Fair. 21 February 2011. Archived from the original on 28 May 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  22. ^ "Shattered Glass (2003) - Cast - IMDb". IMDb.com. IMDb, Inc. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  23. ^ "Former Editor of 'The New Republic' Charles Lane". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  24. ^ Gonzalez, Ed (20 November 2003). "VIDEODVD Review: Shattered Glass". slantmagazine.com. Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on 17 May 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  25. ^ Lehmann, Chris (13 May 2003). "Stephen Glass's Novel, More Than Half Empty". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 18 September 2012.
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