Journalist Michael Hastings dies in L.A. car crash

[alp227]

Last edited Wed Jun 19, 2013, 02:45 PM - Edit history (2)

Source: Los Angeles Times

Journalist Michael Hastings, best known for a Rolling Stone feature that led to the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, died early Tuesday in a car crash in Los Angeles, his employer said.

Neither the Los Angeles Police Department nor coroner's officials could immediately confirm whether Hastings was the victim of a single-car crash that occurred about 4:25 a.m. in the 600 block of North Highland Avenue. Police officials said it was the only vehicle fatality reported Tuesday morning in the city of Los Angeles.

The vehicle crossed a median, struck a tree and burst into flames in the Hancock Park area, LAPD Officer Christopher No said. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

Coroner's officials said they could not immediately identify the victim, saying the body was burned beyond recognition. Without identification or next of kin, neither the LAPD nor the coroner's department could officially identify the body found in the vehicle.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-michael-hastings-dies-car-crash-20130618,0,7611310.story

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In case you get a paywall or can't see this page on mobile here's an alternative link: http://archive.is/7u8EC

Other sources covering the death of Hastings: AP, Rolling Stone, Marine Times, The Guardian, New York Times

[closeupready]

1. Wow. Only 33 years old.

[Major Hogwash]

2. Wow, that really hits home.

Such a young man and now he is gone from us.

[pmorlan1]

3. RIP

He was a fabulous reporter. The kind that speaks truth to power not a corporate shill. He will be missed.

[zeeland]

4. Michael Hastings was the best of the new

generation of journalists IMO. He was responsible for exposing
McChrystal and ending his carreer. Hastings death is a loss to
all of us. Very sad.

[russspeakeasy]

5. I am an old cynic. So of course, I wonder; Really ?

[Daniel537]

8. +1

Odd how its usually the anti-establishment guys who end up like this.

[proverbialwisdom]

6. Ben Smith, BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief, said in a statement:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed1/michael-hastings

Statement On Michael Hastings

June 18, 2013
posted on June 18, 2013 at 6:47pm EDT

BuzzFeed is saddened to report that Michael Hastings died in a car accident early this morning in Los Angeles. He was 33.

Ben Smith, BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief, said in a statement:

We are shocked and devastated by the news that Michael Hastings is gone. Michael was a great, fearless journalist with an incredible instinct for the story, and a gift for finding ways to make his readers care about anything he covered from wars to politicians. He wrote stories that would otherwise have gone unwritten, and without him there are great stories that will go untold. Michael was also a wonderful, generous colleague, a joy to work with and a lover of corgis — especially his Bobby Sneakers. Our thoughts are with Elise and and the rest of his family and we are going to miss him

[proverbialwisdom]

7. Salon: The New York Times failed to convey "what a distinctive figure he was in American journalism"

Last edited Sun Jun 23, 2013, 09:51 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.salon.com/2013/06/22/nytimes_public_editor_obituary_did_not_capture_hastings_adversarial_spirit/

SATURDAY, JUN 22, 2013 11:17 AM EDT
Times public editor: Obituary did not capture Hastings’ “adversarial spirit”
The New York Times failed to convey "what a distinctive figure he was in American journalism"
BY PRACHI GUPTA
14 COMENTS

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/michael-hastings-dead-33-002300721.html
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/hastings-crash-witness-113514329.html (over 1500 comments yesterday)