US: NYT, LAT editors defend decision to publish controversial story
The controversy that erupted a little more than a week ago after several major US newspapers published details of a government program that tracks the financial activity of potential terrorists has yet to die down.
In response to escalating criticism, the Los Angeles Times’ Dean Baquet and the New York Times’ Bill Keller crafted a joint op-ed that ran Saturday in both papers, defending their decisions to publish the story against the government’s will.
The letter describes how reporters pursue sensitive assignments (“no article on a classified program gets published until the responsible officials have been given a fair opportunity to comment”) and how editors make tough decisions (“no magic formula, no neat metric for either the public’s interest or the dangers of publishing sensitive information”).
The conclusion: “We understand that honorable people may disagree with any of these choices — to publish or not to publish. But making those decisions is the responsibility that falls to editors, a corollary to the great gift of our independence. It is not a responsibility we take lightly. And it is not one we can surrender to the government.”
Here’s what some others have been saying:
- President Bush: Disclosure was “disgraceful”
- National Review eds: White House should withdraw NYT’s press credentials
- Phil Rosenthal: Implications for next “secret” scoop
- Washington Post: Bush uses debate to rally Repubs
- Jon Carroll: Bush can target Jews by targeting NYT
- Greg Sargent: Op-ed reveals “sad state of our daily conversation”
Source: The New York Times, National Review, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: US: NYT, LAT editors defend decision to publish controversial story.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.editorsweblog.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/4229
Leave a comment