A piece by a New York Times writer drew material from an interview with a blogger who broke the story, but failed to credit him or his blog thanks to an editor’s removal of the reference.

NYT Editor Cuts Blogger As Story Source

“All the news that’s fit to print” may be the Times’ motto, but they sure are selective and protective of themselves at the cost of others.

Dr. David Michaels blogs at The Pump Handle, and has been trumpeting the need for greater attention to “popcorn lung,” a terrible lung disease believed to be linked to a chemical used for flavoring in microwave popcorn.

His latest post discussed a patient suffering from the ailment. Times writer Gardiner Harris interviewed Michaels, according to the Effect Measure blog at ScienceBlogs.

Though Harris’ story cited both Michaels and his blog, Michaels told Effect Measure a Times editor removed those citations from the story subsequently posted by the Times.

Effect Measure blasted the Times for this edit, which makes it appear Harris directly dug up the details about the popcorn lung patient:

So when the conventional print media complains that bloggers don’t do “real” reporting and parasitize off of “real” reporters, just remember how they make sure this is true. Bloggers, on the other hand, including this one, usually cite our sources and even link to them so you can check what we say isn’t out of context. Apparently that is just blogger ethics, though, not the ethics of “real” journalists like the editors at The New York Times.

You know which ones. The ones who helped bring us the War in Iraq.

The Grey Lady just isn’t as dignified as she used to be.