In many quarters, it has rightly earned a reputation for accurate and vigorous reporting, independence and holding power to account.
Yes, the federal bureaucracy is grinding away with breathtaking inefficiency, and the local government still seems at loose ends in coming up with a plan, but The Times-Picayune — long a journalistic also-ran that gained renewed stature in the '90s — has become a beacon of tough questions, vigorous reporting and high-quality, relentlessly local coverage.
The Furongian is the upper stratigraphic part (series) of the Cambrian, and is followed by the Ordovician, a period which brought a wide diversification of species after the vigorous (reported) diversification during the early beginnings of the Cambrian, known as the 'Cambrian Explosion'.
After the earthquake and in the months before the Olympic Games in Beijing, which begin Aug. 8, China seemed to be moving into a new era of openness, with vigorous reporting from domestic news organizations.
But events in Washington confirm on a daily basis that without that law and, more important, without vigorous reporting, the public would have only a very sketchy picture of what has gone on within this Administration over the past six years.
Margaret Sullivan, the NYT's public editor, also called in her blogpost on Tuesday for the paper to conduct more vigorous reporting of Thompson's knowledge of the scandal and allegations of a cover-up.
It is an encouraging sign that President Bush's successor will understand the need to protect vigorous reporting and the public's right to know about their government's conduct.
She predicts "more vigorous reporting in the future that will include distributed journalism — wisdom-of-the-crowd reporting of the kind that was responsible for the exposing of the Attorneys General firing scandal".
"This is one case where Canada should follow its neighbor to the south; you can't have vigorous reporting without laws protecting sources," said Tom Goldstein, dean of the Columbia University School of Journalism.
But we will continue our vigorous reporting on the health care industry, including coverage of patients, insurers, medical professionals and drug-makers, within the Business and Health sections and on the Well blog.
