Well, they seem to have taken the squishy route... If Mr. Broder was "imprecise" then he should admit that he made several mistakes, and make a written retraction and apology. If he headlined his article and included an embarrassing picture of the Model S on a flatbed - that was actually caused by him and not any deficiencies in the car, then his article is worse than "imprecise", in my opinion.
By the way, I think that Zachary Shahan at CleanTechnica has an interesting point:
2nd Thing I've Learned From The Tesla--NYTimes Firestorm - CleanTechnica
Basically, most people have habits and assumptions and take things for granted with internal combustion engined cars - and until we drive an EV for a while, we only see their disadvantages, and we don't appreciate their strengths.