Taranto deemed this matter to be so important that it was the main item in his 3 January 2017 "Finale" column of Best of the Web, written as Taranto shifted to the role of WSJ Features Editor. Taranto chronicled how Rutenberg's suggestion went on to become official NYT policy: https://www.wsj.com/articles/finale-1483467462
Unfortunately, the NYT has not only continued its oppositional bias in news stories, but that attitude has spread widely. Now we have challenges to balance from both the Left and the Right, and it is good that people like Ira Stoll are continuing to advocate for fairness.
The Finale column also described Ira Stoll's role in starting Best of the Web.
In James Taranto's Best of the Web column on 8 August 2016 he and I addressed this issue of opinion in news coverage: https://www.wsj.com/articles/times-is-on-her-side-yes-it-is-1470675941. This was on the day that Jim Rutenberg of the NYT advocated in a front page article of the print NYT that the paper should abandon even the pretense of balance. Rutenberg argued to instead take an "oppositional" approach to Donald Trump in the NYT news pages: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/08/business/balance-fairness-and-a-proudly-provocative-presidential-candidate.html
Taranto deemed this matter to be so important that it was the main item in his 3 January 2017 "Finale" column of Best of the Web, written as Taranto shifted to the role of WSJ Features Editor. Taranto chronicled how Rutenberg's suggestion went on to become official NYT policy: https://www.wsj.com/articles/finale-1483467462
Unfortunately, the NYT has not only continued its oppositional bias in news stories, but that attitude has spread widely. Now we have challenges to balance from both the Left and the Right, and it is good that people like Ira Stoll are continuing to advocate for fairness.
The Finale column also described Ira Stoll's role in starting Best of the Web.