Public editor

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Public Editor
)

A public editor is a position existing at some news publications; the person holding this position is responsible for supervising the implementation of proper

journalism ethics at that publication. These responsibilities include identifying and examining critical errors or omissions, and acting as a liaison to the public. Most commonly, public editors perform this work through a regular feature on a newspaper's editorial
page. Because public editors are generally employees of the very newspaper they're criticizing, it may appear as though there is a possibility for bias. However, a newspaper with a high standard of ethics would not fire a public editor for a criticism of the paper; the act would contradict the purpose of the position and would itself be a very likely cause for public concern.

Many major newspapers in the U.S. use the public editor column as the voice for their

Organisation of News Ombudsmen
.

The first newspaper to appoint an ombudsman was Tokyo's

At The New York Times, the position was created in response to the Jayson Blair scandal. The Times' first public editor was Daniel Okrent, whose background was primarily in book publishing; Okrent held the position from December 2003 through May 2005. Over the next twelve years, five persons in succession held the position, but then on May 31, 2017, the Times announced that it was eliminating the public editor position.[2]

References

  1. ^ Ananny, Mike (2016-03-17). "It's time to reimagine the role of a public editor, starting at The New York Times". Nieman Lab. Neiman Foundation at Harvard.
  2. ^ Daniel Victor (May 31, 2017). "New York Times Will Offer Employee Buyouts and Eliminate Public Editor Role". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-09-21.

Further reading