Steve Diamond, in his Global Labor and Politics blog, exposes the NY Times white wash attempt.

The Sulzberger family has been in the newspaper business for a very long time. When they decide that they want to shape public perception they know how to do it.

Theirs is an important, even awesome, power in a mass society like the United States but it is a delicately balanced power – if they abuse their power they can lose their legitimacy and thus their power. That happened most recently to the Times when they promoted the idea that, indeed, Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. That helped lay the groundwork for a war the Times now believes was a mistake.

Thus, when they decided recently that the relationship between Bill Ayers and Barack Obama (a candidate already advocating another dangerous war!) was too important to ignore, yet at the same time so critical for their political purposes to debunk, their method had to be pitch perfect.

How did they do it?

More: Ayers/Obama Update: The David Blaine Award Goes to … The New York Times Magic Act!