Charles Lane (journalist)
Charles "Chuck" Lane (born 1961) is an American journalist and editor who is an editorial writer for "The Washington Post" and a regular guest on the Fox News Channel. He was the editor of "The New Republic" from 1997 to 1999. During that tenure, Lane oversaw much of the work of Stephen Glass, a staff reporter who fabricated significant portions or all of some 41 articles, in one of the largest fabrication scandals of contemporary American journalism. After leaving the "New Republic", Lane went to work for the "Post", where, from 2000 to 2007, he covered the  Supreme Court of the United States and issues related to the criminal justice system and judicial matters. He has since joined the newspaper's editorial page, where he currently works. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Early life and education. Born to a Jewish family in 1961, Lane attended Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, where he was managing editor of the school newspaper, "The Tattler". He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in social studies from Harvard University in 1983. As a Knight Fellow, he earned a Master of Legal Studies from Yale Law School in  1997. Career. Lane is a former foreign correspondent for "Newsweek" and served briefly as the magazine's Berlin bureau chief. For his coverage in "Newsweek" of the former Yugoslavia, Lane earned a Citation of Excellence from the Overseas Press Club." "The New Republic"'s owner, Marty Peretz, appointed Lane as editor in 1997 after firing then-editor Michael Kelly. In 1998, one of the worst journalistic scandals in contemporary American history arose at "The New Republic" when fabricated reporting by a staff writer, Stephen Glass, was discovered. Lane fired Glass. The Glass fabrications constituted "the greatest scandal in the magazine 's history and marked a decade of waning influence and mounting financial losses," "The New York Times" would later report. Peretz was planning to replaced Lane with Peter Beinart. Lane learned this from the media before he heard about it from Peretz and resigned in 1999. Lane became an editorial writer for "The Washington Post". Later, Lane covered the Supreme Court for the "Post", before then rejoining the "Post's" editorial board in 2007. During his second stint on the newspaper's editorial board, Lane wrote primarily about fiscal and economic policy. Lane has also taught journalism part-time at  Georgetown University in Washington, DC and at Princeton University. In 2008 Lane published "", about the Colfax massacre of 1873 in Louisiana of blacks by white militia, including the murder of surrendered prisoners. The book received a favorable review in the New York Times. Popular culture. The 1998 journalism scandal at "The New Republic" was the subject of the 2003 film "Shattered Glass". Lane was portrayed by actor Peter Sarsgaard. Lane himself appears on the commentary on the DVD, alongside writer and director Billy Ray. After the film was released, Lane was interviewed by Terry Gross in an episode of "Fresh  Air". In 2003, Glass published a biographical novel entitled "The Fabulist" about his career of journalistic fabrication. A character named "Robert Underwood" was a significant figure in the novel and interpreted as a fictionalized version of Lane. Reviewing the book for "The Washington Post", writer and critic Chris Lehmann wrote that the Underwood character "is meant to induce in-the-know readers to think poorly of Charles Lane." Glass wrote of Lane/Underwood: "Underwood is a domineering, macho control freak. Glass's idea of meting out punishment to this fictional alter ego of his former boss is to impugn his  masculinity; even as his office reeks with 'the hairy-chested smell of a man rising to the occasion.'" Personal life. Lane is married to a German immigrant from the former East Berlin. They have three children.