Lobbyist Drops Lawsuit Against 'NY Times'

How strong a case did lobbyist Vicki Iseman have against The New York Times? Not very, judging from the settlement she just accepted.

Iseman sued the paper in December, alleging that a Times story that implied she'd had a romantic relationship to John McCain had ruined her reputation and career. As I said at the time, Iseman's lawsuit seemed to betray a pretty shaky grasp of both journalism and libel law.

Evidently, the Times's lawyers were able to persuade her of that. According to Editor & Publisher, the settlement "does not include any payment, retraction or apology from the Gray Lady," merely some space on the website for her lawyers to sound off -- with Times executive editor Bill Keller providing a rebuttal.

That's a pretty good outcome for the paper considering the article never should've been published in the first place.

Update: Okay, so the Times didn't apologize, per se, but it is publishing a somewhat appeasing editor's note. Per Michael Calderone, this is it:

A Note to Readers

An article published on Feb. 21, 2008, about Senator John McCain and his record as an ethics reformer who was at times blind to potential conflicts of interest included references to Vicki Iseman, a Washington lobbyist. The article did not state, and The Times did not intend to conclude, that Ms. Iseman had engaged in a romantic affair with Senator McCain or an unethical relationship on behalf of her clients in breach of the public trust.