Amid Buyouts, New York Times Will Scrap Public Editor
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By Josh Nathan-Kazis May 31, 2017
Amid a new round of buyouts, the New York Times is getting rid of the position of public editor, according to a report in the Huffington Post.
Inaugurated amid a plagiarism scandal over a decade ago, the public editor position was first held by Daniel Okrent, the inventor of the most popular form of fantasy baseball. Margaret Sullivan, whose much-lauded tenure as public editor ended in 2016, now writes a media column for the Washington Post.
Pro-Israel advocates often took to the public editor’s inbox to complain about perceived flaws in the paper’s Israel coverage, and those disputes were often adjudicated in the public editor’s column.
In addition to the reported cut of the public editor position, the Times announced Wednesday that it would offer a new round of newsroom buyouts, this time targeting editors.
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.
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