Reuters fires bureau chief over crude remark

Fox, who arrived in Indonesia in January to become Jakarta bureau chief, was on temporary assignment to Tokyo last month to cover the aftermath of the recent earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown in Japan.

His offending remark was made in an overnight exchange with Andrew Marshall, a senior editor on the Asia desk in Singapore. At a disciplinary meeting this week Marshall was reprimanded and given a written warning for his part in the online exchange [Reuters editor punished for chat room remark]. Other journalists, mostly in other regions, were also in the chat room, a virtual space created specifically for Reuters people involved in the Japan disaster story, and saw the remarks of both men. 

Fox, from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, was dismissed without possibility of appeal. He joined Reuters in 1991. ■