My wife and I learned to our cost that Ben Naparstek, then editor of The Monthly, could and did say things to his advantage that were factually untrue, inventing even my wife's tears. We also learned he would not apologise when challenged. No matter how far the man once billed as a wunderkind may rise in Fairfax, where he now works, I will know this of his character - and more. It turns out that the man who has replaced him as editor of The Monthly now knows this, too. John van Tiggelen, who I found to be fair, now writes to Naparstek: Dear Ben, It's probably time to put a few things down in writing. Till now I've cut your sense of professional ethics a lot of slack. After all, we were friendly; you helped me get this job; I couldn't help but feel affection for you and your oddball ways. But I no longer find the latter quite so cute. Read on. The lustre that came from commissioning a smear article about me, even defaming my wife and trashing my late mother, seems to have dimmed for young Naparstek: Since Naparstek's appointment, Good Weekend - once seen as the Fairfax crown jewel - has seen an exodus of award-winning writers including Fenella Souter and Greg Bearup. Naparstek last night told The Australian he did not want to enter into a slanging match with van Tiggelen, other than to say, "John's assertions about our word rates are totally incorrect." The central accusation by van Tiggelen is that Naparstek has attempted to poach writers from The Monthly by offering them an inflated word rate for their work, an amount as high as $2.50 per word for one unnamed writer. This is a very high word rate for an Australian journalist, especially given Fairfax's financial woes and its cuts to staff and budgets. Naparstek is accused of telling female writers 80c a word is as high as they can be paid.