Clark Hoyt named NY Times public editor

Clark Hoyt, the 64-year-old veteran newsman who headed Knight Ridder's Washington bureau before leaving after it was bought by McClatchy, was named public editor of the New York Times today. He said he was attracted by the idea of working for the Times, which he dubbed "a powerful institution. ... It's a tremendous honor to be asked to take on a role to help the Times live up to its own extremely high standards," Hoyt said.

Hoyt becomes the third Public Editor at the paper, which created the post in the wake of the 2003 Jayson Blair scandal. Daniel Okrent was the first, serving an 18-month tenure, while Byron Calame followed with a two-year contract that ends next week. Calame's last column will be this Sunday.

When asked about the obvious friction that can result between the public editor and those who lead the Times, Hoyt said he felt confident through conversations with Executive Editor Bill Keller that he would be able to act independently. "He and I had a very good conversation about this. We are both in agreement that there will be times when I have judgments that differ from his," Hoyt explained. "I think we are both committed to doing this with a highly professional tone."

[Source: Editor & Publisher. Click on the headline to read the full story by Joe Strupp.]