New York Times public editor on Yale QB story
New York Times public editor Arthur Brisbane says the paper’s story on Yale star quarterback Patrick Witt was unfair to the young man because it reported a sexual assault claim based on anonymous sourcing, and didn’t have comments from the accused or accuser.
This was a compelling story, and The Times was motivated to publish it. But when something as serious as a person’s reputation is at stake, it’s not enough to rely on anonymous sourcing, effectively saying “trust us.”
* The quarterback’s tangled saga
* Earlier: Yale paper sat on Witt story for months
There was an excellent op-ed in the WSJ about this case. The writer’s argument, which I agree with, was that the incident should have been reported to the police. When a sexual assault is alleged, you don’t deal with an internal committee. That’s the real story at Yale. Here’s the link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204652904577195270818190282.html?mod=ITP_opinion_0