Department of the Unintentionally Hilarious

From today's NYT "Notes About Competition" editorial:

Now, Mr. Murdoch has bought one of the greatest newspapers in the world, with one of the most sophisticated readerships in the world. Those readers, and all of us who care about journalism, will be watching for any sign that news coverage is being slanted to curry political or economic favor.

Raw Story, August 12, 2006:

Executive editor Bill Keller tells the paper's ombudmsman that "internal discussions" about publishing a story on domestic wiretapping by the National Security Agency ended up "dragging on for weeks" before the November 2nd, 2004 election.

"The climactic discussion about whether to publish was right on the eve of the election," Keller tells Calame. In January, Calame complained that he had encountered "unusual difficulty" in trying to determine when exactly the paper learned of the surveillance that hadn't been properly approved by Congress. "The New York Times's explanation of its decision to report, after what it said was a one-year delay, that the National Security Agency is eavesdropping domestically without court-approved warrants was woefully inadequate," wrote Calame. "And I have had unusual difficulty getting a better explanation for readers, despite the paper's repeated pledges of greater transparency."

...

According to Keller, after holding multiple "pre-election discussions" with managing editor Jill Abramson, Washington bureau chief Philip Taubman, editor Rebecca Corbett, and often reporter James Risen, he alone made the final decision to "hold" the article.

New York Magazine, September 18, 2006:

Sitting next to Abramson at the Pentagon Papers panel was reporter James Risen. In the fall of 2004, Risen had brought a massive scoop to his editors: Beginning in the days after September 11, he discovered, the Bush administration had authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on foreign calls into the United States without court-approved warrants.

When the Times first approached the White House with the story that fall, Taubman took the lead editorial role, beginning a series of meetings with Bush officials. General Hayden, the NSA director, took him on a personal tour of the agency’s headquarters and tried to impress upon him the importance of its secret programs. Taubman also met personally with then–national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice, a close friend of his for more than twenty years. Six months before the 2004 election, Taubman had thrown a lavish dinner party for Rice at his house in Washington.

H/T -- J.