Journalist Quits Over Hyde Story

WASHINGTON — The Washington bureau chief of Salon has quit in a disagreement over the Internet magazine’s decision to reveal Rep. Henry J. Hyde’s long-ago extramarital affair.

“There was no public issue involved” in the Illinois Republican’s conduct, Jonathan Broder said in an interview Tuesday, one day after he resigned.

“This woman was not on Henry Hyde’s payroll; she was not a foreign agent; she hadn’t given a news conference publicizing their affair and she hadn’t filed a sexual harassment suit against him,” Broder said.

Salon contended Hyde’s affair was relevant because Hyde, as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, would preside over any impeachment hearings arising from President Clinton’s affair with Monica S. Lewinsky.