text: Colkoch, I wasn't really talking about commenters being banned on 'progressive' (NCR, Pray Tell) or 'traditional' (Fr Z) blogs/websites.   I do have concerns about comment deletion, though I imagine some are quite offensive.  (Perhaps the best solution is to do what Rorate and Crux have done and eliminate comments altogether.)
  Anyway, my point has to do with the tone of the language in the actual text of NCR stories & editorials.  On a blog, we expect posts to reflect a blogger's personal views.  But NCR is not a blog but a newspaper/news-site, and as such it really should adhere to some journalistic standards.  All media have their POV, but even the NYT, for all its biases, would not rotiely denigrate those who disagree with them as 'fringe',  'extremist', etc (might not some use the same terms to describe the NCR?), or dismiss their opinions as 'hate' and 'vitriol'.  I'm all for civil dialogue, but it really should start in the articles themselves.