My own fact-free point of view, Time To Choose: the Sabres did the same thing to The News that Donahoe pulled on WGR. They didn't like the beating they were taking, so they decided to freeze out their supposed persecutors. (I have to admit, I'm not an expert on the situation. Did they also ignore calls from the beat writers, or just the columnists?)
But while Sully and Gleason are free to take shots at Golisano and Quinn in their News columns, Wawrow's job is to write an unbiased report for a national audience, and providing both sides of the issue to his readers is absolutely necessary.
To be honest, the last graf in the piece quoted above dances fairly close to the dividing line between reporting and opinion. (I agree completely with the sentiment expressed there, mind you -- I'm just a little surprised that it got in.)