I find it interesting that the headlines and articles indicate that the Japanese were “checked” at all points to include the Philipines and Wake Island since both fell within a short period of time after the Times published this edition. I guess it was important to the papers at the time to help keep up american spirits and not report everything as the fault of the administration.
Part of it is simply fog of war, coupled with some censorship in the theater of battle.
For example, the US believes that the Haruna has been sunk. However, she is not even near the Philippines. A cruiser was damaged but not sunk in that attack.
There will be a lot of confusion and incorrect claims until the end of the war. When the allies got a look at enemy records and were able to compare them with our own, then the battle claims in many US records were adjusted.
The Japanese were checked in their initial attacks on Wake.
The initial assault was driven off. The Japanese had to send carriers and battleships to finally take the island in a second try several weeks later.
So the Wake report has merit. You can, however, safely disregard anything that comes from MacArthur.