It’s a battle royale of the media reporter stars. In Slate, Jack Shafer accuses Post media reporter Keith J. Kelly of pulling punches on coverage of labor issues at the Wall Street Journal ever since News Corp. launched their takeover bid:

In the old days, the Post would have commemorated the union’s agitprop with a headline such as “WSJ Staffers Take a Hike, Send Love Letter.” But the paper ignored the demo. This was in keeping with the blind eye the paper turned on a June 29 union protest, in which Wall Street Journal reporters skipped work in the morning to oppose Murdoch’s bid for Dow Jones and demand a better contract. It’s tough for any publication to report on itself or about its owners, yet Murdoch’s ownership of the Post didn’t discourage the tabloid from covering in detail the progress of the Dow Jones deal. That the New York Post no longer wishes to kick the union anthill now that the ants work for Murdoch should come as no surprise.

In other Jack Shafer news, his review of Robert Novak‘s memoir for the Times is well worth a look.

— Neal Ungerleider