Fox News anchor Sean Hannity and his guests on Thursday night slammed the New York Times for printing key details about Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson's home address. An angry Hannity attacked, "If anything happens to that man, his family, or that home...the culpability is with them." [MP3 audio here.]
Conservative columnist Deroy Murdock railed, "Shame on the New York Times for doing that. They're literally putting that man and his family in mortal danger." He excoriated the paper for the "incredibly reckless" move.
As noted by Mediaite, the Times included a picture of Wilson's marriage certificate and information about the street that Mr. Wilson and his wife live on. The November 25th report now features this editor's note:
An earlier version of this post included a photograph that contained information that should not have been made public. The image has been removed.
The unsigned article includes this sentence: "Officer Wilson and Officer Spradling own a home together...in Crestwood, Mo., a St. Louis suburb about a half-hour drive from Ferguson." (The Times still includes the street name.)
A partial transcript of the exchange is below:
11/25/14
10:51
SEAN HANNITY: We have another issue surrounding this debacle in Ferguson. This has to do with the media, with the New York Times releasing the home address of Officer Darren Wilson. There, you have it there from New York Times. We have redacted it for obvious reasons. Why would the New York Times -- if anything happens to that man, his family, or that home, I hold them, the culpability is with them.
DEROY MURDOCK: If anything happens to him, the family should own the New York Times. Just turn the entire title over to the New York Times.
MURDOCK: Shame on them.
BO DIETL (Former NYPD detective): Next are they going to release the names of the grand jury.
HANNITY: Say that again.
MURDOCK: Shame on the New York Times for doing that. They're literally putting that man and his family in mortal danger.
HANNITY: They can't go back to that house.
MURDOCK: Given all the anger, all the feelings about this, the fact that 25 businesses were burned to the ground. The same kinds of feelings those people had could be applied to him and his family in their home. Incredibly reckless.
