I realize that with more and more news consumers getting their news online, the question about which content from newspapers appears in print editions and which appears only online is becoming less relevant. But still, when it comes to the New York Times and its role as the newspaper of record, I think the issue does still matter. Articles that appear in the print newspaper carry with them a certain weight and signal a larger importance.

And that's why I think it's telling that last week the Times ran four articles in its print edition about the undercover sting operation that James O'Keefe ran against NPR. For different times, reporters and editors signaled to readers that the NPR controversy was a priority and was worth carving out space in the print edition to report the story out.

Facing Lawmakers' Fire, NPR Sees New Setback

Resignation Comes at Sensitive Time for NPR

New Tape Increases Pressure for NPR

Partisan Adopt Deceit as a Tactic for Reports

Fast forward to this week though, and all kinds of questions have been raised about O'Keefe's undercover video and the apparently unethical way he edited them. Those revelations completely undercut what O'Keefe and the right-wing media were peddling about NPR last week, which found itself at the center of a raging media controversy. And again, for that story the Times printed up four separate accounts.

But for the debunking of the tapes, the Times has relegated that news to online-only, in the form of this report last night. The article is useful and informative and explains how the NPR gotcha videos that were looped on TV last week aren't really what they appear. But given the amount of print space the Times gave the story last week while NPR was floundering, this update should have appeared in the print edition, as well.