The Times Responds!

The New York Times has responded to my request for a correction of its error-ridden ripoff of my item on Romenesko. Now, it was not just any old response, mind you--this was a New York Times response, in the sense of being... what is the most polite word I can use....clueless. Maybe.... evasive.

I shall duplicate the email that I received, in full:

Could you give me the name and phone number of the person who sent this message?
thanks,
Hubert Herring
The New York Times/Sunday Business

You will note that I did not write a letter to the editor--which does indeed require an address and phone number. I wrote in to ask for the correction of an error and that the Times properly credit this blog. Hubert writes back asking for stuff that has no bearing whatsoever on whether or not he or his people violated the Times ethics rules and made a bunch of mistakes, all in a two-paragraph article!

What Hubert here seems to be saying is this: If you run an anonymous blog WE WILL STEAL FROM YOU.

Oh gosh. Am I being uncharitable? I have written back to Hubert. Let's see how he responds, or if that is the last I will be hearing from the imperious, larcenous, irredeemably clueless Newspaper of Record.