[mikejb]

> The normal response (for a variety of good reasons, including legal and ethical ones) from a company on a matter like this when asked by the press when they haven’t completed an internal investigation would be to decline comment on personnel matters. Google’s behavior is grossly unethical here irrespective of who reached out to the media first.

To give a counter-argument to this: If party A makes a claim or accusation, and party B just says "no comment for now", it'll be near-impossible to reduce the (potentially unjustified) fallout of the premature verdict made. Public opinions matter, and stories told one-sided should not be desired by anyone interested in an objective discourse.