Big loss for the Boston Globe: Charlie Savage, who won a 2007 Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Bush Administration's sweeping expansion of executive power, is headed to the New York Times. He'll start there later this month.
"I'm very sorry to lose Charlie," says Peter Canellos, the Globe's D.C.-bureau chief. "There's nothing more to say about that. But we will be replacing Charlie in the bureau, which is good--and we're going to take a look at internal candidates first."
"Charlie's been terrific for us," adds Globe editor Marty Baron. "He did great work in Washington--he won a Pulitzer, as you know--and it's no wonder that the New York Times is interested in him. But he's not the first talented person from the Globe that's been hired elsewhere. And in the same way that we found the talent of Charlie Savage, I trust that we'll have another talented person in Washington."
The impending end of the Bush presidency may make it a little easier for the paper to cope with Savage's departure; even if John McCain wins in November, he probably won't push the Unitary Executive the way Bush has. Still, an unfortunate development.