The blogosphere is abuzz with news that The New York Times is about to publish an apology or perhaps a self-analysis that will say, in effect, that much of their earlier news coverage on Iraq was faulty; that their reporters — Judith Miller, in particular — were conned by some of the same sources that the Bush administration believed. Or perhaps they will say that they were conned by the Bush administration itself. Whatever, they will state that a number of past stories were faulty and perhaps too willing to believe insiders who were making the case for war.
They did something of the sort with their coverage of the accusations against Wen Ho Lee and while many thought the self-flagellation did not go far enough, it is rare that any newspaper admits anything beyond minor, one-time errors. No other paper (and certainly no TV news source) ever comes out and says, "We got this whole story wrong." This is not because they never err.