THE NATIONAL DEBATE has won its battle with The New York Times. The announcement appears on Public Editor Daniel Okrent’s page; I don’t know if he had a hand in it (though I suspect he may have) but I’m very happy to see the Times do the right thing.

The Times’ lawyers are now happy with a disclaimer on the parody page. That’s as it should be, and the example to other lawyers who have issues with bloggers (and most other folks) is that it’s better to start with a reasonable request than to proceed with threats and bluster from the get-go. Those almost inevitably make you look bad when they’re published.