Those officials did not want to be identified commenting on the negotiations.
One senior news executive, who asked not to be identified commenting on the entertainment division, said, "Prime time is painful".
"This stuff is right out of the movie 'Mean Girls' but it involves grown men," said one person with knowledge of the bickering who declined to be identified commenting on an internal matter.
An editor at a rival publication, who did not want to be identified commenting on the competition, suggested that giving Mr. Bowles wacky assignments has been a conscious strategy on Ms. Wintour's part to make him more accessible.
One longtime television news executive, who insisted on not being identified commenting on a rival news organization's employee, said the circumstance was far from unusual in a business where favors are often requested on behalf of contacts.
"That's why ABC is spending so much money on this kind of thing," said one longtime ABC News executive, who asked not to be identified commenting about the network's other managers.
"Neither one can afford to win an absolute victory over the other," said one Republican lawmaker who is close to the speaker but did not want to be identified commenting on the delicate talks.
But a Manhattan real estate executive, who declined to be identified commenting on another's business dealings, said that Mr. Sturner recently stopped paying his mortgage on One Park Avenue, a 20-story Art Deco building between 32nd and 33rd Streets, which he bought for $550 million in 2007, so that he could have the loan transferred to a special servicer.
Three types of responses were identified, commenting on: (a) the usefulness of the learning experience, (b) finding the experience as very interesting, and (c) enjoyment of the learning experience.
Still, says a Western adviser to the Baghdad government, who declines to be identified commenting on sensitive issues, the Iraqis aren't all that sorry for Ahmadinejad and Khamenei: "Some are secretly gloating because they don't like the way the Iranian regime has behaved in the region".
