When the NY Times ombudsman asked why the NY Times won't print letters to the editor that criticize reporters by name, assistant managing editor Allan M. Siegal responded:
"Public humiliation is neither appropriate discipline nor a good teaching tool."
Isn't public humiliation of others the whole point of investigative journalism? Put another way, isn't the argument for investigative journalism the old idea best expressed by Louis Brandeis: "sunlight is the best of disinfectants; electric light, the best policeman"? The MSM holds government officials, businessmen, and others up to public humiliation precisely to hold them accountable for their alleged misdeeds. Why then should the same not hold true for journalists?
