JEREMY LOTT WRITES that the New York Times isn’t all that important anymore, and that USA Today is the real paper of record:

In fact, many of the things that critics hate about the Times are almost wholly absent from USA Today. “McPaper,” as it is sometimes derisively called, is the opposite of an arrogant newspaper. While the Times was busy spinning against Bush’s most recent round of tax cuts, USA Today played it straight, noting a surge in public support for them. It continues to provide excellent foreign coverage (witness the recent piece on Col. Matthew Bogdanos, charged with finding looted Iraqi antiquities) and decent financial coverage (tech columnist Kevin Maney is one of the best in the business) and its sports coverage easily laps the Times’.

Ouch.