A Q&A with the New York Times Writer of Osama bin Laden's Obituary

The centerpiece of the New York Times’ coverage on Osama bin Laden was the 4,000 word obituary that the paper had on file. One of the writers, Michael T. Kaufman, died in January 2010. Assistant editor Lauren Kirchner of the Columbia Journalism Review has a fascinating interview with the other obituary writer, Kate Zernike, about the process.

Apaprently the obituary had been written since November of 2001, as Zernike described, “when we thought Osama was going to be captured, and presumably killed, in a raid in the next couple of days.

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