[colinmhayes]

The new york times goal is to make money. If the careful argument costs more than it brings in they won't do it. I don't think many people would read the careful argument version of this piece which I suspect is why they went for the blog version instead.

[tomcat27]

Low barrier of entry is actually a good way to increase readers. I bet they are now not as influential as they were in 80s and 90s