Opinions about the economic crisis in news coverage

New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt writes Sunday about how the paper’s reporters covering the current economic turmoil have not been shy about expressing their opinion in their coverage.

One that drew his attention was reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin calling for GM’s management to be fired.

Hoyt writes, “Keller said the column’s analysis was fine, but it ‘stepped over the line’ by calling for G.M.’s chief executive to be fired. Keller called a meeting of business editors and columnists last Monday to revisit a continuing debate about guidelines for columns on news pages.

“‘Subtlety and restraint are important in news columns,’ he told me. Business columnists must build a case through reporting that can lead a reader to a conclusion, Keller said. Op-Ed columnists have ‘greater license to write from an ideological viewpoint and be prescriptive.’

“Sorkin said his column was ‘impactful.’ He got a lot of positive reader feedback, and the column was read by lawmakers in Washington, he said. Sorkin, who as a reporter covers mergers and acquisitions, said he thinks carefully about the differing roles of news reporter and columnist and believes that readers understand the distinction. He felt he had no conflict in this case because he had not written a news article about the auto industry for more than a month.

“Keller, Whitney and Larry Ingrassia, the business editor, all made the case that readers of the business pages want more than the daily news, especially when it involves such complex subjects. ‘They want to know what it means and what we make of it,’ Ingrassia said.”

Read more here.