Wired
Wired Managing Editor Jacob Young writes that Jonah Lehrer “has no current assignments” at the magazine. Wednesday, BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith and Reyhan Harmanci reported Wired spokesperson Jon Hammond had said Lehrer “was and remains on a features contract with Wired” and “Lehrer’s continuing contract with Wired, a Conde Nast sibling of the New Yorker, meant that ‘a couple of pieces that were already in the works’ and that the magazine anticipates future contributions from him.”
Later, Young clarified:
We want to ensure that there is no confusion regarding reports today about writer Jonah Lehrer and WIRED. Jonah has not been “hired” by WIRED; he’s been a contributing editor at the magazine and the website for years. When allegations surfaced about his work elsewhere, we immediately began a thorough review of his feature stories and columns in the magazine. So far we have found nothing unusual. Jonah also wrote tens of thousands of words for Wired.com, and the process of vetting that work continues. He has no current assignments. After gathering the facts–from our inquiry and elsewhere–we’ll make a decision about whether Jonah’s byline will appear again at WIRED.
BuzzFeed has updated its story.
The news Wired was sticking with Lehrer did not, on the whole, generate positive publicity.
