Two more calls for apologies to the three innocent lacrosse players who had their lives turned upside down by baseless charges: Mike King of the Atlanta paper, and his colleague Angela Tuck both call for apologies from the media, and, in the case of King, from members of Duke's faculty, who, he says, rushed to judgement.
Tuck, public editor of the Journal-Constitution, also says that the media rushed and that they owe the lacrosse players "[p]rominent coverage of their innocence and serious questions to authorities about how this case was mishandled."
However, not everyone is on the same page here.
Brian Estabrook, of Columbus, Ohio, thinks that Reade Seligmann, Colin Finnerty, and David Evans owe Crystal Mangum an apology. Arguing that "[e]ven if these young men did not rape this young woman, they still acted in a racist, misogynist manner that should not be condoned in any society. It is disheartening to think that these young men are owed an apology."
We can only assume that to Estabrook, attitude is more important than actions, that what is in the hearts of the three athletes (and he apparently is privy here) is more consequential than Crystal Mangum's false assertions or Mike Nifong's efforts to convict these men in spite of knowing that there was no evidence at all of rape.
If you don't deserve an apology when a supposed rape victim lies, when the D.A. aids and abets, your reputation is destroyed and you face 30 years in jail for something you didn't do, when do you deserve one?
Incidentally, whatever happens, the word Nifong has pretty much entered the language. Latest example: Pokey Chatman's attorney. Mike Nifong's fate, his career, civil suits and possible prosecution aside, is that, like Mr. Lynch and Captain Boycott, the name Nifong has taken on a life of its own.