By: Michael Calderone

Two weeks ago, NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof told the paper’s public editor that he would apologize to Dr. Steven Hatfill, who he had written about as a "person of interest" in the anthrax case. Hatfill was innocent, but only recently cleared by the FBI.

Keeping to his word, Kristof writes:

So, first, I owe an apology to Dr. Hatfill. In retrospect, I was right to prod the F.B.I. and to urge tighter scrutiny of Fort Detrick, but the job of the news media is supposed to be to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. Instead, I managed to afflict the afflicted.

Dr. Hatfill sued me and The New York Times, along with others in the news media and the Justice Department. His suit against me and The Times was dismissed, yet even if I don’t have a legal obligation, I do feel a moral one to express regret for any added distress from my columns.

That makes this a good moment to look at the larger question of what principles should govern the collision between the public interest in aggressive news coverage and the individual interest in privacy.

 

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