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A piece written by one of the paper's own editors would more likely reflects the "voice of the Washington Post" than would a column written by a guest, or a lone token conservative voice on staff.

Any piece written by a columnist, whether by an employee or purchased through syndication, reflects the views and opinions of the columnist...not the paper itself.

In this particular instance, you titled the thread "WaPo admits..." as if the Washington Post is reporting as news that the Wilson business is a CIA set-up. This is absolutely inaccurate (for now), and like I said, does not make you look very bright.

I'm not saying the column isn't interesting, because it certainly is. But you need to recognize the difference between editorial musings and actual news.

"But you need to recognize the difference between editorial musings and actual news."

It's not so much the difference between editorial musings and hard news, but between a columnist - even an in-house columnist - and an unsigned editorial by the editorial page staff, which is the official "voice" of the newspaper.

In this particular instance, you titled the thread "WaPo admits..." as if the Washington Post is reporting as news that the Wilson business is a CIA set-up. This is absolutely inaccurate (for now), and like I said, does not make you look very bright.

I'm not saying the column isn't interesting, because it certainly is. But you need to recognize the difference between editorial musings and actual news.

OK, point taken.

I will admit (as long as we're using that word) that I also mistakenly thought Jim Hoagland was still an editor at the Washington Post. He WAS the "foreign editor" there, beginning in 1979; but the Post's website describes him as "now [a] columnist and senior foreign correspondent," as of some unspecified date.

So it would've been better, perhaps, if I'd put "[Hoagland, liberal columnist for the WaPo, admits...]" in my title line.

But that probably wouldn't have fit.

I make no claims to being a journalist, and I don't have a journalism degree (and since when do "real" journalists post accurate headlines, anyway?).