Is the New York Times -- poster child for the liberal media bias -- actually being cleverly manipulated by the Bush administration and the Pentagon? Jack Shafer thinks it's possible. It's just as possible that the Times' Judith Miller is as desparate to find WMD as Donald Rumsfeld. She's building a small industry in seeing -- and reporting on -- bio and chemical weapons lurking behind every tree. Her reporting in Iraq has been just as scandalous as "L'affaire Blaire" (full disclosure: I stole that from a New Yorker piece) and the "Bragger." And her performance in last year's "Frontline" program on bio-terrorism, in which she seemed to imply that she was personally the target of the anthrax mailer, was embarassing.

Piling on. The Times' apparent morale problems and heavy-handed management isn't confined to the newsroom; even the sports page is driving its best reporters out, according to The New York Observer (thanks to Alex Belth's Bronx Banter):

"In an interview with Off the Record on May 27, Mr. [Buster] Olney said his new gig would include appearing on television as well as writing for the Web site and ESPN the Magazine.

"'I had other chances to leave The Times, but this is an incredible opportunity,' Mr. Olney told Off the Record.

"...According to sources, Mr. Olney, 39, was increasingly unhappy with how the department was being run from above. They said he’d been distraught over the treatment of former sports editor Neil Amdur, and over the management decision to spike two columns by Dave Anderson and Harvey Araton on the Augusta National controversy. (The Times covered the controversy vigorously and editorialized against Augusta’s policy on women.)

"Asked how much internal Times politics played a role in his decision, Mr. Olney would only say: 'I love the paper and had a great time at the paper. Neil was great to work for. [New sports editor] Tom Jolly is a great editor. I wouldn’t leave if this wasn’t a terrific opportunity.'"

Buster covered the Yankees during their incredible run from 1996 to 2001.