" 
 :Also, the edit was put back and I removed it.  This needs to be worked out here first, especially as regards the citations.  The New York Observer is just repeating, it doesn't do the level of reporting that the New York Times does.  And the use of ""mainstream American media,"" to start off the sentence, is not informative to the reader.  Use the source.  ""The New York Times reported,"" etc.  "