The press has been criticized for giving so much coverage to hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the final months of the presidential election, especially as it becomes clear that the Russian government was using the stolen information to manipulate the US election. Many editors defended decisions to publish stories around some of these documents, saying that they did so very carefully.
"Many top editors say that stolen documents that are deemed newsworthy are fair game for coverage, but that the potential motives behind the release of the material must be made clear to readers," reports The New York Times. "Though a mountain of hacked Democratic Party emails was made available, they said, they published articles only on those judged to be in the public interest, with appropriate context provided, given the information available at the time."