The Grey Lady's Double Standard

The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto provided this undeniable example of the New York Times' indefensible double standard regarding leaks.

"The documents appear to have been acquired illegally and contain all manner of private information and statements that were never intended for the public eye, so they won't be posted here."—New York Times, on the Climategate emails, Nov. 20, 2009.


"The articles published today and in coming days are based on thousands of United States embassy cables, the daily reports from the field intended for the eyes of senior policy makers in Washington. . . . The Times believes that the documents serve an important public interest, illuminating the goals, successes, compromises and frustrations of American diplomacy in a way that other accounts cannot match."—New York Times, on the WikiLeaks documents, Nov. 29, 2010. "


Some it likes, others it does not. No surprise which is which, is there? Just that there would appear to be no difference, apart from the political perspective so obvious in the Times' positions.