Journalist and Author Michael Hastings Dead at 33

Posted on June 18, 2013

Journalist and author Michael Hastings died early this morning in a single car crash in Los Angeles. He was only 33, and is survived by his wife, Elise Jordan. Hastings write the infamous Rolling Stone interview piece with General Stanley McChrystal, who was the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan. The candid nature of McChrystal's comments led to him being relieved of his command.

Hastings wrote two books: The Operators, which was an expose of the U.S.' war in Afghanistan, and I Lost My Love In Baghdad about the death of his fiance in and his experiences as a war correspondent in Iraq. In 2012 Hastings moved to BuzzFeed to cover the presidential election.

BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith said in a statement: "We are shocked and devastated by the news that Michael Hastings is gone. Michael was a great, fearless journalist with an incredible instinct for the story, and a gift for finding ways to make his readers care about anything he covered from wars to politicians. He wrote stories that would otherwise have gone unwritten, and without him there are great stories that will go untold. Michael was also a wonderful, generous colleague and a joy to work with."

Rolling Stone managing editor Will Dana wrote Hasting's obituary in which he discussed Hastings' reporting style: "Great reporters exude a certain kind of electricity, the sense that there are stories burning inside them, and that there's no higher calling or greater way to live life than to be always relentlessly trying to find and tell those stories. I'm sad that I'll never get to publish all the great stories that he was going to write, and sad that he won't be stopping by my office for any more short visits which would stretch for two or three completely engrossing hours."

You can read Rolling Stone's full obituary here.