On the day after the Susan Rice story broke, the New York Times made an elliptical reference to it on A16. The paper had more important matters to cover on the front page, principal among them the fate of Bill O’Reilly, the Fox News television host under attack in the media for allegedly harassing female employees.

Has he harassed them? Who knows? The matter is impossible to referee, given that the cases in questions have all been confidentially settled. It is certainly possible that O’Reilly asked female subordinates out, spoke indecently to some of them, and punished those who didn’t respond. It is also possible that O’Reilly is the target of opportunists. One would think the media’s all-hands-on-deck coverage might center on determining the guilt or innocence of O’Reilly. But it doesn’t. It instead focuses on secondary “questions” that the matter raises: Will this or that company boycott his show? Will guests continue to appear on it? Will Fox News executives stand by him?