CONFLICT OF SOMETHING. Howard Kurtz today tells the complicated tale of the departure of the Los Angeles Times editorial page editor over vague conflict-of-interest accusations that led other editors to spike the already completed Sunday Currents section. The guest editor of that section, Brian Grazer, was apparently represented by a public relations firm that employs Martinez's girlfriend, Kelly Mullens, and that made Times editors uncomfortable. All I can say is that if that standard of disinterestedness with regard to writers and editors were applied here in Washington, where only Adam Bellow's book has channeled the governing ethos, every single opinion magazine in town would immediately have to spike itself.
--Garance Franke-Ruta
