Ian Black, Middle East editor of the Guardian, author and academic who embodied the journalist’s duty to show fairness to all sides, died Jan. 25, in Jerusalem. He was 69.

Jews and Palestinians alike have expressed affection and admiration for a journalist who spent much of his career covering perhaps the most vexing conflict in the world. A presence in the Guardian newsroom, where he held the posts of diplomatic editor, Europe editor, and Middle East editor, he embodied the correspondent’s duty to show fairness. Colleagues would hear him taking alternate telephone calls, chatting with one contact in Arabic at one moment, switching to Hebrew for an Israeli contract the next. He also published two books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.