Amid Buyouts, New York Times Will Scrap Public Editor
Image by Getty Images
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.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
