As speculation over the yet-to-be published New York Times profile piece about Governor David Paterson continues to grow, one of the paper’s editors is speaking out.

In his Sunday op-ed, New York Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt says he talked to both the Times’ Albany bureau chief, and its political editor Carolyn Ryan, and they confirmed nothing salacious came up during their interviews with the governor.

In a radio interview Sunday morning with KISS FM, Paterson once again called for an end to the speculation.

“We are now entering the fourth week, the fourth week that the media has been spreading these rumors,” said the governor. “The Times now has on the record, as of this morning, made it very clear that this is never the direction they were going. The word unsubstantiated in journalism used to mean you don’t print it. Now it’s on the front page. These articles had no sources, they were basically made up.”

In this week’s edition of “The New York Times Close Up,” Hoyt said the paper shouldn’t comment further on the profile it’s still working on.

“I feel for Governor Paterson in the sense that both he and the Times have been caught up in this swirl, not of either of their making,” said Hoyt. “I think it would be ill-advised of the Times to make any comment until it’s ready to publish what it intends to publish. A newspaper may start out reporting a story and find that as it reports, the story leads to unexpected places.”

Paterson says the Times only asked him about decisions he’s made, and staff members he’s taken on.

(Source: http://www.ny1.com/)