Darren Wilson in an interview with ABC News (Credit: ABC News, screenshot)
The New York Times named the street on which Darren Wilson, the Ferguson, Missouri police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown in August, lives.
In a report on Wilson’s recent marriage prior to the grand jury’s decision to not indict him, the Times published a photograph of his wedding license and in its story, listed the street where Wilson lives, although not the specific number of his house.
The Times removed the photo of the wedding license but left the name of the street and suburb where Wilson and his new wife, fellow police officer Barbara Spradling, live.
The Times defended the publication of the street where they live, according to the Washington Examiner. “The story mentions only the name of the street where the couple have a house and that street has been widely reported on,” Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy told the Examiner.
The Examiner reported that the street in question is “relatively small and holds roughly 40 homes, presumably making it easier for those searching for his home to narrow down which one belongs to Wilson.”
The Times has since published an editor’s note on Nov. 25 to inform readers of the decision to pull the photo of the license. It reads:
“An earlier version of this post included a photograph that contained information that should not have been made public. The image has been removed.”
That address is actually for a Missouri law firm though, the Examiner noted, and not the specific address for Wilson.
Fox News media critic Howard Kurtz argued that the New York Times‘ publication “endangered Darren Wilson’s life’ and called for the Times to apologize. Likewise, Mediaite’s Joe Concha said Times executive editor Dean Baquet should “issue a personal apology as soon as possible.”
A separate Mediaite article wrongly reported that the Times published a photo of Wilson’s house. That article now has a correction reading:
“Correction: An earlier version of this post said the Times report included a picture of their house. It was a picture of their marriage certificate.”
Concha’s article for Mediaite also contained a Spiderman-related correction, after misattributing a comment to Spiderman AKA Peter Parker when it was really Parker’s uncle Ben who said the comment. That correction reads:
“[Correction: This column originally identified Peter Parker as repeating Voltaire’s famous quote. However, it was Peter’s uncle Ben. Sorry. Happy Thanksgiving.]”
UPDATE: 11/27/2014 10:37 PM EST iMediaEthics has written to the Times and Wilson’s lawyer for comment.
