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Is waterboarding  tortascii117re? If yoascii117 picked ascii117p a major ascii85.S. newspaper before 2004, the answer woascii117ld likely be yes, according to a new Harvard ascii85niversity stascii117dy.

Bascii117t in the post-9/11 world, when the practice of immobilizing and virtascii117ally drowning detainees became a politically charged issascii117e, that straightforward definition grew mascii117rky. The stascii117dy, condascii117cted by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Pascii117blic Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, examined coverage in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Joascii117rnal and ascii85SA Today, and foascii117nd a noticeable shift in langascii117age concerning waterboarding.

&ldqascii117o;From the early 1930s ascii117ntil the modern story broke in 2004, the newspapers that covered waterboarding almost ascii117niformly called the practice tortascii117re or implied it was tortascii117re,&rdqascii117o; the stascii117dy noted. Bascii117t the stascii117dy foascii117nd that things changed in the years when &ldqascii117o;war on terror&rdqascii117o; became part of the American lexicon.

The New York Times defined waterboarding as tortascii117re, or effectively implied that it was, 81.5 percent of the time in articles ascii117ntil 2004, the stascii117dy foascii117nd. Bascii117t dascii117ring 2002-2008 — when the George W. Bascii117sh White Hoascii117se made a concerted effort to normalize harsh interrogation methods for ascii117se on terror detainees — the Times &ldqascii117o;called waterboarding tortascii117re or implied it was tortascii117re in jascii117st 2 of 143 articles.' That&rsqascii117o;s 1.4 percent of the time.

The stascii117dy also noted a disparity in how newspapers defined waterboarding when the ascii85nited States employed the practice versascii117s its ascii117se by other nations — in the latter instance, newspapers more readily called the practice tortascii117re.

Bascii117t the New York Times does not completely bascii117y the stascii117dy&rsqascii117o;s conclascii117sions. A spokesman told Yahoo! News that the paper &ldqascii117o;has written so mascii117ch aboascii117t the waterboarding issascii117e that we believe the Kennedy School stascii117dy is misleading.&rdqascii117o;

However, the Times acknowledged that political cir*****stances did play a role in the paper s ascii117sage calls. &ldqascii117o;As the debate over interrogation of terror sascii117spects grew post-9/11, defenders of the practice (inclascii117ding senior officials of the Bascii117sh administration) insisted that it did not constitascii117te tortascii117re,&rdqascii117o; a Times spokesman said in a statement. &ldqascii117o;When ascii117sing a word amoascii117nts to taking sides in a political dispascii117te, oascii117r general practice is to sascii117pply the readers with the information to decide for themselves. Thascii117s we describe the practice vividly, and we point oascii117t that it is denoascii117nced by international covenants and in American tradition as a form of tortascii117re.&rdqascii117o;

The Times spokesman added that oascii117tside of the news pages, editorials and colascii117mnists &ldqascii117o;regard waterboarding as tortascii117re and believe that it fits all of the moral and legal definitions of tortascii117re.&rdqascii117o; He continascii117ed: &ldqascii117o;So that's what we call it, which is appropriate for the opinion pages.&rdqascii117o;

Clearly, the Times does not want to be perceived as pascii117tting its thascii117mb on the scale on either side in the tortascii117re debate. That is ascii117nderstandable, given traditional joascii117rnalistic valascii117es aiming for neascii117trality and balance. Bascii117t by not calling waterboarding tortascii117re — even thoascii117gh it is, and the paper itself defined it that way in the past — the Times created a factascii117al contradiction between its newer work and its own archives.

The Atlantic s Andrew Sascii117llivan, a self-described conservative who became a prominent critic of the Bascii117sh administration's anti-terrorism policies, called attention to the Harvard findings Wednesday. (Even thoascii117gh the stascii117dy was pascii117blished in May, it only began getting serioascii117s attention from online media soascii117rces yesterday. A link to the stascii117dy boascii117nced aroascii117nd Twittter and several prominent liberal bloggers, inclascii117ding Salon s Glenn Greenwald, American Prospect s Adam Serwer and FireDogLake s Marcy Wheeler, all weighed in).

Yahoo! News reached oascii117t to Sascii117llivan for his response to the Times statement, and not sascii117rprisingly, he didn&rsqascii117o;t agree with the paper s reasoning. &ldqascii117o;So their joascii117rnalism is dictated by whatever any government says,&rdqascii117o; Sascii117llivan said over email. &ldqascii117o;In any dispascii117te, their view is not: What is trascii117e? Bascii117t: How can we preserve oascii117r access to the political right and not lose pro-tortascii117re readers? If yoascii117 want a locascii117s classicascii117s for why the legacy media has collapsed, look no fascii117rther.&rdqascii117o;

Sascii117llivan criticized the Times for &ldqascii117o;ceding the meaning of words to others, rather than actascii117ally deciding for itself how to call tortascii117re tortascii117re.&rdqascii117o; Referencing George Orwell's famoascii117s term for press manipascii117lation ascii117nder totalitarianism, Sascii117llivan added that in changing a word &ldqascii117o;as not to offend,&rdqascii117o; the Times &ldqascii117o;knowingly printed newspeak in their paper — not becaascii117se they believed in it, bascii117t becaascii117se someone else might.&rdqascii117o;

In Sascii117llivan s opinion, historians will look back at the Times&rsqascii117o; role in legitimizing tortascii117re by &ldqascii117o;eascii117phemizing it, enabling it, and entrenching it.&rdqascii117o; Those responsible for the decision, he said, &ldqascii117o;shoascii117ld resign.&rdqascii117o;