Re: AlNewYorkTimes Shrinking.... DUH..I wunner why.
Well, If you think an editorial board can influence a news division to that extent, you are in effect calling them non-professional hacks, as that is how they are taught to do it in journalism school.
There have been flaws, to be sure. The NYT is a special case in this, as they went thru the Jason Blair scandal, where several lost their jobs, ande more recently the Judith Miller debacle.
Not her involvement in the Valerie Plame fiasco, but in the run up to the Iraq fiasco. She was the primary Times reporter in the run up to the war, and it turns out her primary sources for WMD's was Scooter Libby and other administration sources, who had specific political reasons to get her to report as she did.
If I were her editor I would be furious, as no paper with integrity can be seen as shills for any administration.
It is generally fairly easy to spot bias. You can take any story and check the W's. Who,what, where, when, and why. If the emphasis tends to be on the "why" and not the first four W's, the chances are there is some point of view at work