Father and son and fighting

This week the public editor of the New York Times took the extraordinary step of recommending the paper reassign its Jerusalem bureau chief because his son had enlisted in the Israeli army. Read the story in full:

The Public Editor – Too Close to Home – Op-Ed – NYTimes.com.

NYT Executive Editor took exception to the column, in clear terms in his response. Read it all the way through, as well.

Pick a side. Who do you think should prevail here? What is your feeling about removing a journalist from a story over the appearance of a conflict of interest, not an actual conflict? Does that distinction even matter? Is appearance everything? Is the Middle East story so hot and so intense that we lose hope for fair coverage? What about the mention of Anthony Shadid (an SJMC alum, by the way)? Does his heritage make him too close to the story, as well?