Keller To Kill Public Editor Position?
The New York Observer says that there is a very distinct possibility that New York Times executive editor Bill Keller may well end (or hamstring) the position of public editor when Byron Calame's term ends in May. Keller appears to not want his paper's lies, distortions or omissions aired in public.
The two-year term of the current public editor, Byron (Barney) Calame, will conclude in May. There may, or may not, be another.
“Over the next couple of months, as Barney’s term enters the home stretch, I’ll be taking soundings from the staff, talking it over with the masthead, and consulting with Arthur,” meaning publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., wrote Bill Keller, The Times’ executive editor, in an e-mail to The Observer.
Mr. Calame is the paper’s second public editor since Mr. Keller announced the job on his first day as executive editor in July 2003.
Mr. Keller wrote in his e-mail that “some of my colleagues believe the greater accessibility afforded by features like ‘Talk to the Newsroom’ has diminished the need for an autonomous ombudsman, or at least has opened the way for a somewhat different definition of the job.”
Mr. Keller added that “the creation of a public editor has helped the paper immensely in a period when the credibility of the media generally has been under assault.” The position at The Times was created in the wake of the Jayson Blair debacle that emerged in 2003.
When reached by phone on Dec. 29, Mr. Calame said he had heard the news. His assistant, Joseph Plambeck, had attended an in-house Q&A on Dec. 15, at which Mr. Keller expressed the idea.
“I have been critical of the newsroom,” Mr. Calame said. “I’ve also praised the newsroom, and I think that Bill Keller has been—quite obviously—unhappy with some of the things I’ve written.”
“It seems to me that the high degree of independence that has been given to the public editor at The New York Times makes it a situation that inevitably causes criticism,” Mr. Calame said.
He added: “So it is not a surprise to me that The New York Times—that Bill Keller, the executive editor, and Arthur Sulzberger, the publisher—would want to sit down and think about whether they want to have a public editor.”
The article describes the relationship between Keller and Calame as "really bad". It probably would be a bit better if the Times indulged in accurate reporting instead of agenda driven distortions, but that's pretty obvious. It is also pretty obvious that Keller will be unlikely to leave the position as it exists today. It will either be muzzled or eliminated.
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A Blog For All — January 3, 2007 @ 11:46 am
By Jack Gunter, Jr., January 3, 2007 @ 8:54 am
So does this mean that if a lie falls in an alleyway and nobody hears it scream that Truth continues in motion throughout empty space until resisted by an equally obvious force of media-driven gravity, or does the invisible lie also lie uneasy upon the editorial head? And if not, why then should the bell toll bourgeoisie?
I’ve often wondered about that kind of thing.
By Gaius, January 3, 2007 @ 8:57 am
Does your head hurt?
By Jack Gunter, Jr., January 3, 2007 @ 11:05 am
Why? Is it supposed to?
I wonder about that sometimes to…
By Gaius, January 3, 2007 @ 11:48 am
If you ask philosophical questions like that often, it should hurt. Mine would! Mine gets a twinge when I am asked, “Paper or plastic?”