Truth or Consequences

Gene Venable sums up the Needleman affair (did the big, bad Grandmasters conspire against the puppy-eyed youngster in the Continental Open rapid tiebreaks? My view -- even if they did, who cares!) and along the way he takes Chessbase and chess journalism in general to task [ChessWatch 8/31/2005, "The Truth about Chess Journalism"]:

Just exactly what [chess] web site is the equivalent of, say, the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times? In other words, where do you go to get objective, reliable, unspun information?

The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times -- objective? reliable? unspun? What fantasyland does he live in?