Over at the LA Times, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chuck Philips relied on documents forged by an imprisoned con man to get to the bottom of the pressing public issue of whether P. Diddy had knowledge of a 1994 attack on Tupac Shakur, which exacerbated the East Coast/West Coast hip-hop feud that eventually led to both Shakur's and Biggie Smalls' deaths.
The Smoking Gun had to inform the LA Times of their error, which led to an apology, which I guess is more than one would expect from the LA Times.
A Patterico guest-blogger (and one who knows LA and the Times well) takes you on a tour of Philips' dubious career highlights covering this story.
Meanwhile, the New York Times thinks Heidi Montag, reality star of "The Hills" fame on MTV, is...ugh, I'll just let you read it (emphasis mine):
Defying our expectations, Heidi has emerged as a kind of feminist hero this season, climbing her way to a bigger position at the event-planning company where she orchestrates Nascar parties, and refusing to acquiesce to the demands of her fianc, Spencer, that she get herself home on time. Her career-mindedness sets their relationship off course. Heidi identifies the problem with no name: a boyfriend who sits around an apartment decorated to look like an ’80s video arcade while trying to deny Heidi a real wedding with the glory of registering. Her groundswell of self-assertion begins when he insists on eloping, prompting Heidi to declare, “This isn’t, like, Spencer’s relationship and you decide what we do.”Montag, in addition to being one of the most insufferable stars without talent of our new media age, is also the woman who expounded thusly on her decision to get breast implants:
“I woke up, and it was like Christmas: I was a nervous wreck, but I was just so excited at the same time. Spencer said, “I’m so proud of you.” It was like he was wishing me well off to school: “Love you! Bye!” But surgery is a very big deal. Right before I went in, I was like, What if I don’t wake up? Oh, this is scary. Then I thought, I don’t care. If I don’t wake up, it’s worth it. I just wanted it so badly.”Yep, that's what a feminist looks like. There you have it. The superior fact-checking and judgment of our vaunted mainstream media. Get your subscriptions!