In your commendable Thursday media column: Nick Kristof is the perfect columnist except for his writing, the NYT acknowledges its photo scandal, USA Today teaches us how to write a story that adds up to zero, and Lenny Dykstra's bankrupt.

Earnest NYT columnist Nick Kristof is refreshingly honest about his job! He admits that his columns often have no impact; that he is "easily bored"; that he makes mistakes sometimes when he writes about things he doesn't know all that much about; and that his ignorance is widespread. He tells the truth, and he writes about things that are actually important! Nick Kristof, we want so bad to love you! If only you made a few more dick jokes or something, you could be perfect.

The New York Times has published an editor's note confirming that Edgar Martins' photos of abandoned construction project were in fact digitally altered: "A reader, however, discovered on close examination that one of the pictures was digitally altered, apparently for aesthetic reasons. Editors later confronted the photographer and determined that most of the images did not wholly reflect the reality they purported to show." Shame, because the flicks would have been fine without it.

One part of the art of journalism space-filling is to be able to run stories that actually reveal themselves to be totally pointless. USA Today accomplishes this today, with a story (with obvious scandalous undertones) about how federal aid dollars are going "overwhelmingly to places that supported President Obama in last year's presidential election." Oh, and in the last paragraph they mention: "From 2005 through 2007, the counties that later voted for Obama collected about 50% more government aid than those that supported McCain, according to spending reports from the U.S. Census Bureau." But by then you already read the story, and they successfully filled that space, so everyone wins!

Ballplayer-turned-stock-picker-turned-mini-magazine-mogul Lenny Dykstra has reached the final stage of his career evolution: filing for bankruptcy.

Facing a string of lawsuits, unpaid bills and a long list of people he's accused of stiffing, the 46-year-old former outfielder said in his court papers in Los Angeles that he owes as much as $50 million but has only about $50,000 in assets.

Time for a comeback, Lenny. The Mets can always use extra pinch-hitting.