The New York Times is speaking up about the now infamous Lolo Jones piece.

It’s not apologizing for what many people have called a “hit job” on the U.S. Olympian, but the paper’s public editor has conceded that the story by Jere Longman was “particularly harsh, even unnecessarily so.”

“I believe writers like Jere Longman, who does have a long and worthy track record at the Times, should have some room to express their hard-earned perspective,” Public Editor Arthur S. Brisbane said in a blog post. “But this piece struck me as quite harsh and left me, along with others, wondering why the tone was so strong.”

The bulk of Brisbane’s post is the email response he’s offered to the many people who have written to the Times complaining about the article. According to Brisbane, Longman’s story was a point-of-view piece, meaning he could infuse his own perspective.

In the story, Longman attacks Jones, insisting that her slim chances of winning a medal at the London Games don’t warrant the attention heaped upon her by marketers and the media.

“Jones has received far greater publicity than any other American track and field athlete competing in the London Games,” he wrote in the Aug. 5 article. “This was based not on achievement but on her exotic beauty and on a sad and cynical marketing campaign. Essentially, Jones has decided she will be whatever anyone wants her to be—vixen, virgin, victim—to draw attention to herself and the many products she endorses.”

The story caused an uproar and several media outlets denounced it. A FoxNews.com post that rounded up the reaction said: “A Slate reporter called it ‘one of the nastiest profiles’ of an athlete she'd ever seen; Sports Illustrated asked ‘why any sportswriter would criticize an athlete for being too open and honest,’ and Reuters called the piece ‘grossly unfair and hypocritical.’”

It also led to drama off the track for Jones and her teammates. After the 110-meter hurdle race—in which Jones finished fourth—U.S. runners Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells, who won silver and bronze in the race, respectively, took jabs at their teammate in an interview.

“On the podium tonight, the three girls that earned their spot and they got their medals and they worked hard and did what they needed to do, prevailed,” Wells told NBC Sports. “And that’s all that really needs to be said.”

Jones, meanwhile, broke down during an interview on the “Today” show.

“I think it was crazy, just because it was two days before I competed and the fact that it was from a U.S. media,” Jones said. “They should be supporting our U.S. Olympic athletes and instead they just ripped me to shreds.”

The Times sports editor had a different take, telling Brisbane that “one person’s harsh is another person’s tough minded.”

(Image via)