Journalism 1, Cablevision 0

There aren't a lot of feel-good stories in the newspaper business these days, so let's savor this one: Journalism and corporate thuggery went toe-to-toe at Newsday this week, and journalism came out on top.

A week ago, the Long Island paper's editor in chief, John Mancini, went missing from the newsroom after a closed-door meeting with the publisher, Timothy Knight. It soon emerged that Cablevision, which bought Newsday last July, had taken exception to the paper's coverage of a sexual harassment suit against a player on the New York Knicks, another Cablevision property. This sort of interference was hardly unexpected; the Dolan family, which controls Cablevision, has a history of trying to strong-arm journalists, whether or not it employs them.

But this time it was the journalists who flexed their muscles. Rather than clarify the situation, Newsday allowed the mystery to ripen, with Mancini's top two lieutenants also reported MIA even as two of the biggest stories of the year, the presidential inauguration and the ditching of a commercial jet in the Hudson River, unfolded. The gambit worked, and yesterday Mancini emerged triumphant, telling his staff that there had indeed been "a difference of opinion" with Cablevision management, and intimating that he and his two deputies had threatened to walk unless the Dolans backed down, which they did.

Recounting the standoff to his staff, Mancini received a spontaneous ovation. He deserved it. In this economic environment, it's all too easy for go-along-to-get-along editors to tell themselves they have no choice but to appease their papers' business sides. Mancini proved otherwise.