The Press: Long Live the Prince

Most U.S. daily newspapers would have a hard time going to press on time without the use of "filler." Filler, i.e., stories and short items without a time element, is kept on hand, already set in type, in the composing room. Thus, the stories can be quickly tossed into the paper at the last minute to fill holes in back pages. While handy, filler can also make a paper look silly—if it is not careful. Last week even the meticulous New York Times fell afoul of its filler.

In a three-quarter-column feature story by North American Newspaper Alliance, the Times reported that...