‘Ostentatious Display of Accountability’
Byron Calame, who replaced Daniel Okrent as the New York Times’ public editor, published his first column, introducing himself and laying out what new measures he will take.
Calame, who spent 40 years at the Wall Street Journal, promises “new approaches to transparency,” such as “publishing stimulating and thoughful e-mail messages and letters from readers–with responses from the editors and reporters involved.” The incoming public editor revels in his new role, which he describes as
the “ostentatious display of accountability” advocated by Joann Byrd, a former ombudsman at The Washington Post and a member of the special Times committee that recommended creating the public editor post in the wake of Jayson Blair’s deceitful reporting. Very importantly for me, I discovered during my exploration of the job with The Times that Okrent’s published criticism had sometimes caused editors to take actions they might not have taken if the comments had just gone to them in a memo from the public editor.
CAMERA agrees that sunshine is the best disinfectant.
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