The story of Public Editors at The New York Times has been a little like Goldie Locks and the Three Bears. The first one, Daniel Okrent, had too much fun with the column. His succeesor, Byron Calame had too little. The current Public Editor, Clark Hoyt, is just right.

This week he writes about the “scandal” du jour: The New York Times giving Bill Kristol a one-year contract to be an op-ed columnist. In the two weeks in between the Times announcement and Kristol’s actual first column, blogger mayhem ensued, with everyone being outraged for no real reason.

First off, it’s not like law that you have to read every New York Times columnists. Many people don’t. In fact, as the failure of TimesSelect proved, no one would even pay to do so. Second of all, the New York Times is a private company. They can hire whomever they want. If Kristol proves to be a bad choice, it’s really on them and the larger effect on readers is pretty minimal.

As Hoyt puts it:

This is a decision I would not have made. But it is not the end of the world. Everyone should take a deep breath and calm down.

Yeah, that is just right.