Among journalists, the story also raised significant ethical concerns. As initially published, the article indicated that the hacked materials had been provided, under the condition of anonymity, by an intermediary known on Substack and X as Crémieux, who was described only as “an academic and an opponent of affirmative action.” But there’s more to that source: as The Guardian reported in March, Crémieux is the social media alias of Jordan Lasker, a promoter of white supremacist views. The Times updated its article to note that Crémieux “writes often about IQ and race.”

“It seems a little disingenuous to play this game of ‘We know something you don’t know,’” Jane Kirtley, a media ethics professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, said, referring to how the paper originally characterized Crémieux. “Why would you promise him anonymity and then play hide-the-ball with the readers?” Kirtley added, “My question is: Why would you have even made that promise to this individual in the first instance? I don’t see the need.”

A reminder that the New York Times is really afraid of socialism, even a milder one.