Pulitzer winner David Auburn returns to Broadway for the first time since his prize-winning “Proof” closed in 2003 with “The Columnist,” a torn-from-the-obits tale of journalism, politics, and personal compromise in mid-20th-century America. “The Columnist’’ is a quieter work than “Proof,” and less intellectually glittering, but it is also more solidly made, and often witheringly funny.