Another photograph Mittens doesn’t want you to see:

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Our guest columnist is New York Times Public Editor Arthur S. Brisbane, who asks New York Times readers whether the New York Times should get into the journalism business.

I’m looking for reader input on whether and when New York Times news reporters should challenge “facts” that are asserted by newsmakers they write about.

One example mentioned recently by a reader: As cited in an Adam Liptak article on the Supreme Court, a court spokeswoman said Clarence Thomas had “misunderstood” a financial disclosure form when he failed to report his wife’s earnings from the Heritage Foundation. The reader thought it not likely that Mr. Thomas “misunderstood,” and instead that he simply chose not to report the information.

Another example: on the campaign trail, Mitt Romney often says President Obama has made speeches “apologizing for America,” a phrase to which Paul Krugman objected in a December 23 column arguing that politics has advanced to the “post-truth” stage.

As an Op-Ed columnist, Mr. Krugman clearly has the freedom to call out what he thinks is a lie. My question for readers is: should news reporters do the same?

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In a sweeping victory for common sense and Religious Freedom, the Supreme Court Wednesday affirmed the totally uncontroversial and obvious principle that religious organizations are pretty much above the law, the end, you can all go home now. In its ruling, the Roberts Court invalidated a lawsuit by a former church employee who maintained that she was discriminated against when she was fired by a Lutheran school for violating the strictures of the faith. Justice John Roberts echoed the voice of the majority when he noted:

“The interest of society in the enforcement of employment discrimination statutes is undoubtedly important, but so, too, is the interest of religious groups in choosing who will preach their beliefs, teach their faith and carry out their mission.” Read more »

Criminally negligent TSA agents seized an alleged cupcake bomb from Massachusetts college lecturer Rebecca Hains on Christmas Eve at a Las Vegas airport and, as of last night, no one at the agency has been able to produce a record of the disposition of the purportedly fatal confection.

No one knows if the alleged cupcake bomb was taken to a remote location and detonated, if it was tested for explosives or if it was possibly mislaid and intercepted by persons unknown with no appreciation of the destructive potential of this alleged ordnance.

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So we’re watching this Newt attack ad on Rachel last night, when suddenly we bark.

Understand, barking — HAH! — is something usually reserved for Jon & Stephen, not the evening news. We don’t just bark at anything. We have standards.

So, what let the dogs out? It wasn’t the highlight reel of Mitt’s Greatest Misses. That just elicited Mild Amusement, something akin to that smarmy smug grin Mitt adopts while he’s waiting for applause to fade. (Seriously, have you seen that look? Mitt is the Douchebag in Chief.)

No, it was right near the end, the title card that attempted to drive the point home:

Only Newt Gingrich can win the debates against Obama. Mitt Romney can’t.

HAH!

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Breaking voter-fraud news!

A mystery man trying to vote in the New Hampshire primary using a dead man’s name got caught by an eagle-eyed voting supervisor in Manchester, then disappeared before police could corral him.

“We take a lot of pride in this primary,” Gloria Pilotte, the Ward 9 supervisor who stopped the voter fraud, told the Herald.

“I’m very confident about the way we do this in New Hampshire.”

Whew. That was close. Who knows what wingnuts would have done with a certified case of voter fraud!

Unless it was wingnuts who did it:

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“Rains unprecedented in 117 years of record keeping set new yearly precipitation totals in seven states during 2011… Despite the remarkable number of new wettest year records set, precipitation averaged across the contiguous U.S. during 2011 was near-average… This occurred because of unprecedented dry conditions across much of the South, where Texas had its driest year on record.” [Weather Underground]