Very curious non-denial denial today issued by the Journal's editor Robert Thomson in response to the column published by the NYT's David Carr. Carr detailed how, since being purchased by Rupert Murdoch, the Journal's D.C. bureau is being pushed to adopt a more conservative, and openly skeptical, tone when reporting on the Obama administration, and to do it in the paper's news hole, which is supposed to be a no-no. (See exhibits A, B, C, and D.)

Wrote Carr:

A little over a year ago, Robert Thomson, The Journal's top editor, picked Gerard Baker, a columnist for The Times of London, as his deputy managing editor. Mr. Baker is a former Washington bureau chief of The Financial Times with a great deal of expertise in the Beltway. The two men came of age in the more partisan milieu of British journalism.

According to several former members of the Washington bureau and two current ones, the two men have had a big impact on the paper's Washington coverage, adopting a more conservative tone, and editing and headlining articles to reflect a chronic skepticism of the current administration.

Thomson's rather overexcited response? Here it is in full, via NY Observer. Please try to find the part where Thomson denies the central charge of Carr's piece, because I couldn't find it either:

The news column by a Mr David Carr today is yet more evidence that The New York Times is uncomfortable about the rise of an increasingly successful rival while its own circulation and credibility are in retreat. The usual practice of quoting ex-employees was supplemented by a succession of anonymous quotes and unsubstantiated assertions. The attack follows the extraordinary actions of Mr Bill Keller, the Executive Editor, who, among other things, last year wrote personally and at length to a prize committee casting aspersions on Journal journalists and journalism. Whether it be in the quest for prizes or in the disparagement of competitors, principle is but a bystander at The New York Times.

So there you have it. The New York Times detailed today how the Journal's D.C. news bureau is under increasing pressure, internally, to report from the right, and the Journal's editor today failed to deny the charge.

Noted.