The NY Times is even worse than you think

A liberal writer in New York gives a nice account of the pathetic performance of the Times in the Duke lacrosse case. The Times' coverage is committed to pushing the narrative of guilt no matter what the facts show. Pay special attention to the quotes from Times' journalists. When Brooks and Kristoff expressed doubts about the case:

“David Brooks is a conservative,” an editor at the paper told me, so his apostasy “didn’t count” for much in the newsroom. “But then they really paid attention when Kristof reversed.”

But they aren't biased or anything.

“I’ve never been a source for anyone on any story ever written about the Times,” one reporter at the paper told me. So why on this one? “I’ve never felt so ill over Times coverage.” That’s ill at a paper that published Jayson Blair’s fabrications and Judy Miller on WMD. “It’s institutional,” said one of the several editors to whom I spoke. “You see it again and again, the way the Times lumbers into trouble.”