Liz Spayd, the current public editor of the New York Times, ran a column Sunday over the internal kerfuffle over the hiring of Bret Stephens from the Wall Street Journal to join their stable of op-ed columnists.  While the controversy is kind of fun to watch as we see the limits of tolerance over at the Gray Lady, the most interesting disclosure came in a throwaway line, spotted by my friend Lauri Regan:

The Stephens episode touches the third rail of a debate surfacing as The Times looks to include a wider range of views, not just on the Opinion pages but in its news columns.

Lauri nails it: "News columns are now admittedly reflecting the reporter's views."