NYTimes Biased Coverage of the Edwards Affair

The Public Editor of the Times gently criticized the paper's suppression of the Edwards affair today:

I do not think liberal bias had anything to do with it. But I think The Times — like The Washington Post, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, major networks and wire services — was far too squeamish about tackling the story. The Times did not want to regurgitate the Enquirer’s reporting without verifying it, which is responsible. But The Times did not try to verify it, beyond a few perfunctory efforts, which I think was wrong. Until the ABC report, only one mainstream news organization, McClatchy newspapers, seemed to be making headway with the story.

Click here to see the column.

But the Public Editor failed to acknowledge the two most serious problems. First, the unfortunate fact is that the Times' editorial views have infected the paper's news coverage. Purported "news" is biased and slanted. Second, there is an incredible double standard. The paper did not hestitate to put a completely unsourced article about John McCain's alleged improper personal relationship on the front page, but it ignored and suppressed an indisputably improper relationship by former Senator and Presidential candidate John Edwards.

The Times has about the same journalistic integrity as Pravda.