NYT ombudsman comes down on Krugman's side

New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt weighs in Thursday on the dispute between the paper’s columnist Paul Krugman and business writer Andrew Ross Sorkin after Sorkin wrote that Krugman favored nationalizing the country’s banks.

Hoyt writes, “Krugman and Sorkin told me that they talked Thursday. Sorkin said the conversation was ‘very cordial.’ Krugman called it ‘not much fun.’ They agreed that they disagree on the definition of nationalization.

“I think the right thing to do is to simply acknowledge that, in trying to quickly summarize Krugman’s nuanced position, Sorkin over-simplified and got it wrong. Krugman did not call for the nationalization of the entire banking system, and, unless Sorkin can produce a citation to the contrary, he did not say it was necessary because otherwise the banks would fail again and cause a worldwide domino effect.

“Sorkin said he is going back to his editors to discuss whether some sort of clarification is needed.”

Read more here.