Fat city: is fat really bad for you? Articles in two top newspapers reached opposite conclusions.

A succulent slab of steak, the kind that we all long ago learned would make us fat and give us heart attacks, graced the cover of the New York Times Magazine. An equally naughty, mouth-watering glob of butter swam atop the steak.

"What if Fat Doesn't Make You Fat?" asked the July 7 cover in bold, black lettering. Next to that provocative question, in smaller orange type, came these startling words: "Influential researchers are beginning to embrace the medical heresy that maybe Dr. Atkins was right."

In a contentious 7,909-word article, freelance science writ