We're thinking the New York Times needs to get its story straight.

The subscription page for the Times' new Bay Area edition, which launches today, promises that readers will get "local stories as only The Times can report them." (Emphasis ours. See screenshot below.)

But at the same time, Times President and General Manager Scott Heekin-Canedy tells PaidContent that, in fact, the Gray Lady would like to find an outside organization to actually supply the content.

"Our preference is to find a local partner to produce this," Heekin-Canedy said. "This doesn't really fit within our staffing model, our staffing resources for the New York Times newsroom."

So which is it? Local content as only the Times can report it? Or local content as only the Times can hire outsiders to report it?

As an addendum, Heekin-Canedy refused to say that the Times' local content partner will be the Bay Area News Project, the new $5 million, Warren Hellman-funded, joint KQED-University of California, Berkeley project to launch a nonprofit news organization. Reports have said that the BANP had been talking with the Times about being their print outlet.

"We're in discussions with a number of people in the Bay Area," Heekin-Canedy tells PaidContent. "We're not at the stage where we're willing to make commitments."