A question about the Propaganda Model (new data) [View all]

I noticed something singularly interesting recently as a student of the "Propaganda Model" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_model) presented by Noam Chomsky in his famous 1988 work, "Manufacturing Consent". On April 29th, the New York Times presented this piece on the US backed corruption in Afghanistan:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/world/asia/karzai-acknowledges-cash-deliveries-by-cia.html?_r=0

It strikes me as very odd that the New York Times, as a pivotal member of the mainstream (corporate) media, would have reported on such a topic. The propaganda model shouldn't allow for this, but there are two big reasons why it may and I'm not sure to make of the ordeal. It could be that:

a.) The propaganda model is never quite perfect and never claims to be and this item merely slipped through the filters (though it's a pretty big item and undermines most of what America has done in Afghanistan since the "nation building" phase..)
or
b.) There is a struggle amongst power elites about some issue surrounding American backed corruption in Afghanistan and as a result this story was spawned.

I'm still doing my own research on this story, so I may come to my own conclusions presently, but I must say I feel sort of confused about the piece at the moment :/ If anybody has any sentiments to share I would greatly appreciate it.