We noted this morning that the newspaper is starting up a new conservative blog, which is like Hershey's starting a seperate blog on its website for chocolate lovers; it's sorta redundant. Still, the daily continues to dance around its partisan roots. The newspaper just ought to openly embrace its GOP role, rather than continuing this kabuki dance.

Then again, important Beltway insiders like Howie Kurtz play along with the Time's game and pretend it is a serious, impartial newspaper.

But if that's the case, how do you explain this headline and article from today's WashTimes [emphasis added]:

U.S. 'diversity czar' takes heat over remarks

And the lede:

President Obama's diversity czar at the Federal Communications Commission has spoken publicly of getting white media executives to “step down” in favor of minorities, prescribed policies to make liberal talk radio more successful, and described Hugo Chavez's rise to power in Venezuela “an incredible revolution.”

Note the casual use of “diversity czar” both in the headline as well as the article. (And note how the quotation marks around it are dropped in the lede of the news article.) But “diversity czar” is not a real phrase. Meaning, there's no such thing as a U.S. “diversity czar,” and Obama does not have a “diversity czar” at the FCC. That's simply the WashTimes trying to mainstream the right-wing rhetoric about so-called administration “czars,” who have become the new GOP boogieman.

Technically, there are no “czars” in this administration or any others. That whole name game is a media creation that goes back decades and is used to describe officials whose responsibilities are slightly larger, or more encompassing, than traditional administration posts. And yes, over time the shorthand has been used quite often. (i.e. The Drug Czar.)

Now however, the WashTimes is pretending that there's a “U.S. diversity czar.” There is not, which is why no other newspaper in America, according to Nexis, has used that phrase this year in a straight news article to describe anyone within the Obama administration. It's simply the WashTimes adopting right-wing rhetoric for its headline.

Same with the lede. There is no “diversity czar” at the FCC. There's a “diversity officer,” but the position does not come with “czar”-like powers, however that is defined. Again, it's just the WashTimes aping the GOP Noise Machine rhetoric and turning the FCC position into a scary sounding “czar” in a news article. And again, according to Nexis, no other mainstream news outlet in the country has used “diversity czar” in a news article to describe that FCC position.