American Enterprise Institute scholar and The Atlantic contributing writer Norman Ornstein is strongly criticizing The New York Times' botched story on Hillary Clinton's emails, and its handling of the aftermath.

Ornstein writes that “the huge embarrassment over the story ... is a direct challenge to its fundamental credibility.” He adds, “The paper's response since the initial huge error was uncovered has not been adequate or acceptable,” pointing to Times editor Dean Baquet's response:

Times editor Dean Baquet does not fault his reporters; “You had the government confirming that it was a criminal referral,” he said. That raised another question. What is “the government?” Is any employee of the Justice Department considered the government? Was it an official spokesperson? A career employee? A policy-level person, such as an assistant attorney general or deputy assistant attorney general? One definitively without an ax to grind? Did the DOJ official tell the reporters it was a criminal referral involving Clinton, or a more general criminal referral? And if this was a mistake made by an official spokesperson, why not identify the official who screwed up bigtime?

This story demands more than a promise to do better the next time, and more than a shrug.

Later Ornstein notes, “Holding a story until you are sure you have the facts--as other reporters did, with, it seems, 'government officials' shopping the story around--or waiting until you can actually read the documents instead of relying on your good sources, so to speak, providing misleading and slanted details, is what they could have done differently.” Ornstein concludes that someone at the Times “should be held accountable here, with suspension or other action that fits the gravity of the offense.”

New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan has criticized the paper for running a “sensational” story before it was ready and for not being transparent with readers about revising it. Media Matters Chairman David Brock recently called on the Times to commission a review exploring “the process of reporting and editing at The New York Times that has allowed flawed, fact-free reporting on so-called scandals involving Hillary Clinton and report back to readers.”