‘Killing Fields’ Writer Loses N. Y. Times Column, to Be Reassigned

New York Times writer Sydney Schanberg, whose experiences as a war correspondent in Cambodia earned him the Pulitzer Prize and formed the basis of the recent film “The Killing Fields,” was dismissed this week from his duties as author of the paper’s twice-weekly “New York” column, the Times announced Tuesday.

“Sydney Schanberg has been asked to accept another assignment, which is now under discussion,” the paper said in a two-paragraph story at the bottom of Page 18 of Tuesday’s editions.

No Reasons Given

New York Times executives refused to specify the reasons for Schanberg’s reassignment, but corporate spokesman Leonard Harris did say, “I don’t think there is any relevant precedent” for reassigning a columnist at the New York Times to another job.

Schanberg, 51, said in an interview Tuesday that the paper was discontinuing his column because of “differences of opinion and approach” with the column’s political stances. “It was not aesthetics,” he said. “It was substance.”

Schanberg’s writing often was devoted to the plight of the poor and the individual and opposed civic projects supported by some of New York’s most powerful interests, particularly those in the real estate industry. He was also sharply critical of New York Mayor Edward I. Koch.

“People used to ask me if I were told what to write, and the answer was always no,” Schanberg said. “I always took pride in that. This decision to discontinue the column is not part of that tradition, and that is what saddens me.”

Sydney Gruson, deputy to New York Times Publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger, refused to make any comment beyond the statement in the paper and referred all calls to Harris.

Harris, as did Schanberg, denied that any one column or group of columns had prompted the decision.

Other than that, Harris said: “A couple of inferences could be drawn from this. One is that . . . it could be felt that another approach would be sought. One could infer that he was asked to discontinue it for other reasons. By not spelling it out, we perhaps invite inferences.”

Decision by Publisher

Harris said that the decision to discontinue the column had been made by Sulzberger, the publisher, to whom all columnists report. Former and current New York Times staff members said privately, however, that few decisions are made at the paper without consulting Executive Editor A. M. Rosenthal.

“He had to be a major player in this,” one staff member, who asked for anonymity, said of Rosenthal.

Rosenthal, Editorial Page Editor Max Frankel and Sulzberger are on vacation and unavailable for comment.