(Credit: NYT, screenshot)

The New York Times’ new public editor Margaret Sullivan explained in a Sept. 11 blog post why the Times opted for a “far more muted” coverage of the anniversary of Sept. 11 as opposed to last year’s tenth anniversary “huge special treatment” with “an elaborate Web presence and an ambitious special section.”

Sullivan questioned “anniversary journalism” and if the toned down focus on Sept. 11 is “enough to satisfy readers’ sense of what is appropriate? Does it fulfill the journalistic responsibility to note an important date?”

Check out Sullivan’s blog post.

Hat tip: Media Bistro’s Fishbowl NY