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petecld "slacks" or "pants" or "shorts" - does it matter?
The proper response on the subject should have been, "Pete, there are many factors that go into the legibility of copy either on the web or in print." I would have agreed with you 100%. A good typographer takes the medium used into consideration so comparing web viewing to print was a poor choice. By the way, newspaper type is more often a font family called "Corona" and not "Times". Corona was designed specifically for better legibility for high speed printing which certainly includes newspapers. They look similar though so I can understand the mistake.
Times is common for desktop applications for no other reason then it came installed on all computers and eliminated the problem of the end users missing fonts which would have altered letter kerning, word spacing and line breaks which would reduce legibility as well as make whatever was sent look unprofessional. It's a common font used on web sites for the same reason.
"I have read many, many studies on font and type readability, and there is not a clear consensus..."
Actually there is a consensus. The only "consensus" is that font style is just one factor of many in good legibility.
I'd love to know all these studies you've read but I know specific names is an issue with you so I won't hold my breath waiting for your sources.