Exactly, these judiciously placed print statements help me locate the site of the error much faster than using a debugger. Then, I could switch to using a debugger once I narrow things down if I am still unsure about the cause of the problem.
As someone who reads Washington Post, NYTimes and WSJ daily, I too find their (WSJ's) reports trust worthy and accept the facts presented without too much fact-cheking. However, the editorial board and the opinion section are where Murdoch's influences reflect. The facts presented there are mostly murky and sometimes half-truths. I even found some "facts" that were out-right wrong and intentionally so.