Last week, departing New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt wrote that despite one reader's wish that he remain in the position for life, "It really is time to go."
Hoyt's successor was named today: Arthur S. Brisbane, former editor and publisher of the Kansas City Star, editor at the Washington Post and Knight Ridder executive.
Brisbane is the fourth public editor in the paper's history.
Here's the announcement via the Times:
NEW YORK, June 21, 2010 – The New York Times today named its next public editor, Arthur S. Brisbane, a journalist and news executive with 34 years experience, including as publisher and editor of The Kansas City Star and as reporter and editor at the Washington Post.
Mr. Brisbane is the fourth public editor appointed by The Times. He succeeds Clark Hoyt. The public editor works outside of the reporting and editing structure of the newspaper and receives and answers questions or comments from readers and the public, principally about articles published in the paper. His opinions and conclusions are his own.
Mr. Brisbane’s column will run in the Opinion section at least twice a month on Sundays. Additionally, Mr. Brisbane will publish periodic commentaries about The Times’s journalistic practices and current journalistic issues in general, to appear when he believes they are warranted. The public editor’s e-mail address, public@nytimes.com, is published regularly in The Times.
After starting his newspaper career in 1976 at the Glen Cove (New York) Guardian, Mr. Brisbane began working for the Kansas City Times in 1977, where he wrote a Metro column and authored a book of columns, Arthur Brisbane’s Kansas City. He joined the Washington Post in 1984 as a reporter, covering issues for the National and Metropolitan desks before becoming Assistant City Editor.
In 1990 he joined The Kansas City Star as a Metro columnist, became editor of the newspaper in 1992 and publisher in 1997. He was named senior vice president for Knight Ridder, Inc. in 2005 and is currently consulting for organizations such as the Nieman Foundation. Mr. Brisbane is a graduate of Harvard College.
