

Revelations (and what is much worse, revelations in rival papers) that the US runs a worldwide eavesdropping network that traps just about every communication of every possible kind on the planet, has prompted a flood of articles in the Times . Leader after leader has thundered out from the offices on Eighth Street. But these are not quite the sterling defenses of civil society and freedom of expression we might expect. Far from it. Rather, the Grey Lady has sided closely and rather shamelessly with the government and its secret agencies, and wherever possible tried to belittle or undermine its critics.

