"of the events to which your reporter based her story. Not disclosing to you, her editors or her readers that she held and had publicly shared the same view of the coronavirus threat as the subjects of her column. These errors were made more egregious. . .

"by the actions Times editors took in the hours after publication, when it became apparent that Ms. Bellafante failed in basic journalistic practices & ethics and they substantially changed the headline and body of the article without indicating the retraction or corrections. . .

"to the story. Specifically:
Mr. Hannity’s quote cited in the article that could not have possibly influenced Mr. Joyce in his decision-making, as those comments were made nine days after the Joyce’s embarked on their cruise, were removed online. Language which previously. . .

"drew a direct and specific claim against Mr. Hannity & Fox News were later effectively removed by editors. Just as troubling, Ms. Bellafante, just 3 days before the Joyces left on their cruise, Tweeted regarding the coronavirus: “I fundamentally don’t understand the panic. . .

"incidence of the disease is declining in China. Virus is not deadly in the vast majority of cases. Production and so on will slow down and will obviously rebound.” By the logic laid out by Ms. Bellafante, had Mr. Joyce been a follower of hers on Twitter. . .

"(and they were known to each other by a familial friendship), there is a better chance that she & by extension her employer who gave her a far-reaching social footprint – influenced his fateful decision. As has been proven time & again as the pandemic has devastated the US. . .

"both in tragic loss of life and economic destruction, many news outlets, medical science experts, and government officials at every level of government – federal, state and local – made mistakes in gauging and reporting the seriousness of the disease and its spread. . .

"You are undoubtedly aware of the calls by New York City’s Mayor DeBlasio and members of the City Council urging New Yorkers to attend the annual Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations in late January despite a growing awareness of the potential for infection. . .

"The federal government’s top expert, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci stated on January 26, “The American people should not be worried or frightened by this. It’s a very, very low risk to the United States. . .

"It isn’t something that the American public needs to worry about or be frightened about.” Furthermore, Dr. Fauci said on March 9 “there is no reason” that a healthy person shouldn’t be able to go on cruises, adding, “if you want to go on a cruise ship, go on a cruise ship. . .

"Perhaps that accounts for the mistakes of so many in the media and government until it was too late. By blaming a rival news organization for the tragic death of a fellow citizen when the facts don’t support such a damning conclusion will only cause to further damage. . .

""the New York Times’ credibility. Up until June 2017, such egregious errors and lapses in journalistic ethics would have been reviewed at the New York Times by its Public Editor. But that position was eliminated. In announcing her departure and the elimination. . .

"of the Public Editor position, Liz Spayd noted: “It’s not really about how many critics there are, or where they’re positioned, or what Times editor can be rounded up to produce answers. It’s about having an institution that is willing to seriously listen to that criticism. . .

"willing to doubt its impulses & challenge the wisdom of the inner sanctum. Having the role was a sign of institutional integrity & losing it sends an ambiguous signal: Is the leadership growing weary of such advice or simply searching for a new model? We’ll find out soon enough.