(continued)

The last time the New York Times wrote about this subject at length, I sent an e-mail to five of its top editors (at least one of whom happens to be gay), pointing out that although the article in question had appeared on the front page—and had therefore been vetted by at least 10 editors—it still managed to omit virtually every relevant fact about this issue. Last week's piece about the generals and admirals, written by Thom Shanker and Patrick Healy, did exactly the same thing. For the record, here are some of the facts they might have thought to include:

• At least 58 Arab translators have been thrown out of the military because they are gay.

• Nearly three in four troops (73 percent) say they are personally comfortable in the presence of gays and lesbians. (Zogby International & Michael D. Palm Center 2006 study)

• One in four U.S. troops who served in Afghanistan or Iraq knows a member of their unit who is gay. More than 55 percent of the troops who know a gay colleague said the presence of gays or lesbians in their unit is well-known by others. (Zogby International)

• All published Pentagon studies, including the 1993 Rand Report, conclude that there should be no special restrictions on service by gay personnel.

• Twenty-four other nations, including Great Britain, Australia, Canada, and Israel, already allow open service by gays and lesbians, and none of the 24 report morale or recruitment problems. Nine nations allowing open service have fought alongside American troops in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition, 12 nations allowing open service fought alongside U.S. troops in Operation Enduring Freedom.

During the past 20 years, the New York Times has gone from the worst to the best place for a gay reporter to work. Why nearly all of its stories on gay subjects remain relentlessly unsophisticated is an enduring mystery.

Winner: Paul Steiger, who spent 16 years as the brilliant editor of the Wall Street Journal, for founding Pro Publica, which will spend $10 million a year on original investigative reporting, to be shared with major print and broadcast outlets. At last week's opening of New York University's spectacular new space for its journalism school, Steiger explained his motivation:

"It is true that the number and variety of publishing platforms is exploding in the Internet age. But very few of these entities are engaged in original reporting. ... We face a situation in which sources of opinion are proliferating, but sources of facts on which those opinions are based are shrinking. ... I sometimes imagine that we are headed for an America in which the Associated Press becomes the sole source of news for a nation of 300 million bloggers. I'm a huge admirer of the AP, and I'm married to a blogger, but that's not a country I want to live in.

Sinner: Joe Klein, for falsely reporting in Time that House Democrats had supported a bill that would require the surveillance of every foreign-terrorist target's calls to be approved by the FISA court, an institution founded to protect the rights of U.S. citizens. Glenn Greenwald excoriated Klein for not reading the bill, which specifies: "IN GENERAL—Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, a court order is not required for electronic surveillance directed at the acquisition of the contents of any communication between persons that are not known to be United States persons and are reasonably believed to be located outside the United States for the purpose of collecting foreign intelligence information, without respect to whether the communication passes through the United States or the surveillance device is located within the United States."

Greenwald contended this is what Klein should have written:

"Last week, House Democrats passed a bill that allows the government to eavesdrop on foreigners outside of the U.S., but requires court approval to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens inside the U.S. But GOP operatives/politicians have spent the week telling reporters that the bill does the opposite, falsely claiming that it gives the same rights to terrorists that it gives to U.S. citizens."

Klein made five attempts to correct himself, one of which included this gem: "I have neither the time nor legal background to figure out who's right."