This presidential race is the low-water mark of American journalism

When the New York Times crossed the Rubicon by allowing reporters to express their opinions in so-called news stories, the floodgates opened across the country as imitators followed suit.

The decision by editor Dean Baquet to dismantle the standards of the Times to try to elect Clinton will not be easy to reverse after the campaign. The standards were developed over decades to build public trust, and removing them elevates the editor’s bias to policy.

As such, the decision establishes a political litmus test for hiring, and new employees likely will be expected to echo the party line in their “reporting.” Let’s see how many conservatives or even moderates get promoted, and whether religiously observant employees feel discriminated against.

This “disastrous rise of misplaced power” is visible each and every day as the Times’ front-page headlines read like editorials in slamming Trump and boosting Clinton. Tuesday’s was a classic, with the top story accusing Trump of a “tax dodge” 30 years ago.