NATION IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Editor of National Geographic Fired

Wilbur Garrett was fired as editor of National Geographic magazine after months of mounting tension with Gilbert M. Grosvenor, president and chairman of the National Geographic Society. The move was cast as a resignation when it was announced to ranking editors. William Graves, assistant editor for expeditions, will replace Garrett. Sources said Garrett and Grosvenor had been on a collision course over the editor’s efforts to adapt the 102-year-old magazine to a changing, and younger, readership. Another conflict was Garrett’s resistance to cutting staff and editorial spending during a period fo belt-tightening.