Soccer Dad

The public editor's job

via memeorandum

Tigerhawk complains:

Apparently we need another public editor to explain why the first one spends himself on trivia and the arcania of conflict policy instead of examining a front page story with statistical "reasoning" so unbelievably fraudulent it is hard to believe that it was not intentional.

It's only a problem if you assume that the job of the ombudsman or public editor is to ensure objectivity. In truth the job of the ombudsman is to explain to the ignorant masses what journalism is. That's why Hoyt has chosen to defend giving op-ed space to the representative of a terror organization but questioned the decision to give op-ed space to a(n apparently) reformed criminal or *gasp* a neo-conservative.

Journalism involves some really odd moral calculations. Hoyt's job is to defend them, not to ensure greater transparency, accuracy or objectivity.

I know that a lot of conservatives bashed Dan Okrent the first public editor of the Times. What was refreshing about him is that he possessed a candor that has been sorely lacking from his successors.

public editor.