A Scorecard

The Times is a feast today. There's a lot to read. Of course, much is on the cataclysms in the Mideast. The Times is covering it like a first-rate news service, but does it stand out? It's too early to tell.

A lot the news is being equally covered across the different wires. Everyone has something about Iran's reactor problems, the attack on Iraq's oil refinery, and so on, all the way down to Charlie Sheen's latest blowup -- which, by the way, is still the most popular story on the digital Times.

I'm trying to focus on what's different about the Times.

Here's a rundown. The first two are disposable. The second two are commendable. That's a pretty good summary of my thinking about the paper after a month of this ongoing review.

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A story blowing the lid on the poor nutritional value of McDonald's oatmeal has been stuck on the most popular list for days, but gee whiz, how can this be news? McDonald's isn't supposed to have good food.

How to Make Oatmeal . . . Wrong

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Hollywood's happy. More older people are going to the movies. But wait, there are more older people in the country, period. Whether they are "returning" to the movie theaters, as the story says, is murky. Those damn numbers. They can get in the way of a good story every time. We do know younger people are going to the movies less, and that is bad news for Hollywood. It sounds like hype; it looks like hype.

Graying Audience Returns to Movies

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Here's an insightful story from the Metro Desk: Prosecutors in New York are getting evidence in domestic violence cases by listening in on phone calls from jail. It's fascinating.

Abuse Suspects, Your Calls Are Taped. Speak Up.

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And a new angle, actually a few new angles, on that nagging question of why no one in the banking business had to pay for the near collapse of the U.S. financial system. There's no easy explanation, but this column illuminates and doesn't pontificate.

Biggest Fish Face Little Risk of Being Caught

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