Coverage of the dispute between Amazon and the Hachette Book Group by the New York Times made its way into the Sunday column of Margaret Sullivan, the paper's public editor. Sullivan was reacting to reader complaints that coverage of the showdown by reporter David Streitfeld has leaned heavily in favor of HBG and the authors who support the publisher. Sullivan said her take is that "this is a tale of digital disruption, not good and evil."
Author Hugh Howey, who has been an outspoken advocate of Amazon and has, in the past, specifically criticized Streitfeld's coverage of the Amazon-Hachette situation, was among those to applaud Sullivan's piece.
In a post titled "Standing Ovation," Howey, wrote: "Thank you, Margaret Sullivan, for renewing my faith in my favorite newspaper." Over at the Digital Reader, Nate Hoffelder, writes that while he doesn't expect the piece to "change the slant" of Streitfeld's coverage of Amazon, "it is nice to see at least someone at the NYTimes acknowledging that there is an issue with its coverage."
