The NYT.com calls it The Lede. It is described thusly:
In the news business, the opening sentences of a story are referred to as its "lede" -- spelled that way, journalism lore has it, to avoid confusion with the lead typesetting that once dominated newspaper printing presses. Although a tightly focused narrative typically follows the lede, every sentence in a news story has the potential to spiral off in new directions, and each paragraph leaves behind unexplored angles. That's where The Lede's mission begins.
Essentially, Tom Zeller Jr. blogs about major stories of the day. His first entry is on the gagged babies in a Russian hospital.
I noticed the feature Wednesday afternoon when I saw a post about Crazy Astronaut Lady.
I loved this segment:
No screening, of course, is foolproof. Writing more than a decade ago in New Scientist magazine, Ian Mundell noted the problems that Soviet cosmonauts have encountered during long term space flight. He includes a telling quote from Cosmonaut Valery Ryumin:
Cosmonaut Valery Ryumin wrote in his personal diary in 1980, “All the necessary conditions to perpetrate a murder are met by locking two men in a cabin of 18 by 20 feet … for two months.” As far as the Western world knows Soviet space missions never went that far, despite missions lasting more than a year in the 90 cubic meters of the Mir orbital station. And even that space became increasingly constricted because used equipment was stored inside, rather than ejected.
Anyway, seemed like an interesting supplement to the news to me.
Addendum
The Lede isn't that new. The first post was on Nov. 14, 2006. I love the headline:
However, although I'm a regular visitor to the NYT website, I didn't see it until today, even though I visit it almost daily.
What might have been the difference? The blog was promoted with a graphic.