New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan has responded to the harsh attacks against the paper claiming that it published the exact address of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in a blog post last Monday.
"As a result of this misinformation -- which has been through the media spin cycle several times -- the writers of the blog post have been targeted and criticized, quite viciously," she wrote.
Sullivan clarified that the article, which has since been updated with an editor's note, included a picture of Wilson's marriage license which included an address of a law firm -- not Wilson's home. The post did, however, include the officer's town and street name.
The paper has received hundreds of "angry" emails bashing the story, Sullivan said, a reader response that has New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet none too happy.
Baquet told Sullivan that he is "outraged for the two reporters," and that he fully supports their reporting.
"They've done it heroically," he said, adding that the Times' coverage of Ferguson on the whole has been "fair, aggressive and excellent."
But media critics and reporters like The Washington Post's Erik Wemple criticized the paper for revealing such personal details about the officer, claiming that it "adds nil news value," especially when dealing with subject at the center of so much national attention.
"Leave it out," Wemple wrote.
Sullivan said that she agreed with Wemple when it comes to publishing the street name, but argued that what the reporters are being accused of is "widely misreported and misunderstood."