SOHRAB AMARI: Dear Covington boys: Everyone failed you.

I wish I could offer a word of reassurance amid your troubles. But all I can say is that everyone failed you. The elite media failed its duty to truth and fairness. Your school failed you. Your diocese failed you. Your Church failed you, with some of the nation’s most visible Catholics, lay and clerical, rushing to join the pile-on. America failed you.

Start with the media. If you have taken a high-school journalism class, you have heard that reporters are exacting with facts. That they are supposed to seek comment from people they criticise. “Even if your mother tells you she loves you, check it out,” runs an old journalistic maxim. These standards are especially pertinent when stories involve children.

Well, I’m sorry to say that many “real”, adult journalists don’t follow these professional rules anymore, including and especially at the prestigious outlets that went after you.