New York Times public editor Daniel Okrent takes on the subject of the Times’ liberalism today. I think his examination is fair and thorough. Liberals are all too familiar with the justified scrutiny that Fox News is getting for its ideological bent, but something similar is going on on the right, where the New York Times is consistently decried as the voice of rampant liberalism. I think it’s better for the Times to try to define itself rather than pretending to be “fair and balanced,” which puts the paper’s defenders in a tough spot provides red meat to critics who know darn well that it isn’t.