Hey, OP here. I don't really care about Pao, but posted this again because of the details it provides on how the NYT operates in general. In particular, there's this paragraph:

"I often hear from readers that they would prefer a straight, neutral treatment — just the facts. But The Times has moved away from that, reflecting editors’ reasonable belief that the basics can be found in many news outlets, every minute of the day. They want to provide “value-added” coverage."

If there was a good post analyzing this, with lots of links to primary sources, without getting bogged down in other distractions, I would've posted that instead. But I unfortunately haven't seen one yet.