Hoisted from Comments: Tom Ricks Explains Why He Did Not Write the Stories He Thought He Should Be Writing

Howard asks, at http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2006/08/tom_ricks_expla.html#comment-20780354:

So I'm curious: how do Ricks and Kurtz account for the excellent work that Knight-Ridder did in the run-up to war?

The implicit answer is that wire service editors have other things to do than to rein in their reporters. Wire services have to trust their reporters, because there is never any time to second-guess them.