The Guardian has declined to comment on the departure of its long-serving Middle East correspondent Martin Chulov.
Insiders believe Chulov was the subject of an internal investigation and his byline has not appeared in the paper since April.
In a statement reported by the Mail on Sunday Chulov said: “The allegations against me are categorically denied. Many of them have been found to be untrue following independent investigation.”
Press Gazette has not been able to independently the allegations which Chulov refers to.
Unusually for a departing staffer, Chulov’s byline page has been deleted and now returns an error message. The Guardian has yet to advertise for a replacement Middle East correspondent.
Chulov won the Orwell Journalism Prize for his coverage of the Middle East in 2005 and was named journalist of the year by the UK Foreign Press Association in the same year for work which included Isis: The Inside Story, an investigation into the origins of the terror group in an Iraqi prison.
Chulov’s departure comes amid a round of cost-cutting at The Guardian which has just been completed. Press Gazette understands around 30 journalists have taken voluntary redundancy, including UK technology editor Alex Hern and media editor Jim Waterson.
Guardian News and Media has yet to release its accounts for the year to the end of March 2024, which normally appear in July. They are expected to be released this month showing a rise in annual cashflow to around £39m, up from £17m the previous year.
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