2005 News: New York Times Names New Public Editor

NEW YORK (AP) - The New York Times has appointed Byron E. Calame, a former editor at The Wall Street Journal, as its new ombudsman. He replaces Daniel Okrent, who will be leaving the Times when his 18-month contract expires next month.

Calame, 65, spent 39 years at the Journal, beginning as a reporter and continuing until his retirement in December as deputy managing editor in charge of quality control.

The Times' executive editor, Bill Keller, made the announcement Tuesday and said Calame ``will bring a lifelong, in-his-bones sense of how a daily newspaper operated, and a deep, demonstrated
commitment to the highest standards of our craft.''

Calame's position, called public editor, was created three months ago after an internal probe into the Jayson Blair scandal found the newspaper published three dozen stories by the former reporter that included fabrications, factual errors and instances of plagiarism.

Calame's job will be to review comments from readers and the public about articles appearing in the newspaper. He also will periodically publish commentaries about current issues in journalism, including the paper's journalistic practices.

Calame earned a journalism degree from the University of Missouri in 1961 and a master's in political science from the University of Maryland in 1965.

In 2002, he was given the Distinguished Achievement Award by the Society of American Business Editors for his service to the Journal. He was also president of the organization from 2000 to 2001.