Why Oh Why Can't We Have a Better Press Corps? (Yet Another Washington Post Edition)

The clown show that is the Washington Post continues, with Deborah Howell saying that Fred Hiatt and the Washington Post editorial board are entitled to make up their own facts:

[I]t's important to understand that I have no purview over the editorial policy of The Post. The editorial board makes policy, and it is not my job to second-guess it. But this case provides an excellent opportunity to point out to readers how reporters and editorial writers can see things quite differently. Editorials and news stories have different purposes. News stories are to inform; editorials are to influence...

The Daily Kos is amazed, and quotes the New York Times's ombudsman in response:

Opinions expressed on the editorial and Op-Ed pages of The New York Times aren't part of the public editor's mandate. But the facts are. And so are corrections of any misstatements...