(Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)

I kind of like how the New York Times has recently more frequently adopted a first-person viewpoint lately. When it began publishing articles based on thousands of State Department cables released by Wikileaks this week, it also published editorials on its decision to accept and publish the sensitive information in the classified cables.

Putting an even more human face on the paper, the Times’ executive editor went on All Things Considered yesterday to discuss the algorithm the NYT used to decide what information should be released and what should be redacted. Had the New York Times executive editor been wearing TOMS shoes during his appearance on NPR, some sort of liberal trifecta would have surely been scored.

More deliciously, the Times broke the fourth wall when it published an article by Robert Carr that analyzed the media frenzy over the Great TSA Body Scan Protest of Thanksgiving 2010, which, despite the hype, failed to materialize. One of the better sentences:

“By midday Wednesday, a forlorn CNN correspondent was wandering around during a live shot with nothing to report, with a nearby keening baby the only indication of terminal rage.”

A paper that talks openly to its readers not only about itself, but about the field it works in is a trustworthy media source indeed (and one that’s become increasingly rare).

I don’t know if the paper has changed or if it’s always been this way and I’ve only recently taken notice, but the New York Times is killing it right now. Whatever that formula is, it seems to be providing itself the model needed to survive the transition from paper to digital that is (perhaps rightfully) bleeding out so many other subscription media outlets.

If you don’t have an online subscription to NYT, I would urge you to get one. It’s free and I’ve yet to receive a single piece of spam from signing up.

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