[E]ven sophisticated readers of The New York Times
     sometimes find it hard to distinguish between news
     coverage and commentary in our pages. 

     Here we have the top man in the newsroom at the nation's
     most important daily - the newspaper that more than any
     other sets the mainstream print and broadcast media's
     agenda - essentially conceding what countless critics
     have argued for years. Thus we see a storied institution
     admitting its need to rededicate itself to achieving a
     standard previously claimed as the daily norm of
     performance.