yeah, those columnists are who I was thinking of and bring them to the right of center-left IMO. I'm far from the broader world of journalism and find the NYT pretty pathetic in terms of its cultural coverage, which is pretty nonexistent and a slap in the face given its home city's impact in the arts. But neither paper is what I would call radical, just milquetoast and ready for corrections the next day.
I think this thread could veer dangerously close to a political one so I'll stop there.