Times Public Editor Talks at Baruch

By Michelle Michalos

Clark Hoyt, the Public Editor of The New York Times, says he “gets between 300 and 1,200 messages a day from readers, and almost none of them are happy readers.” That’s one measure, he told a Baruch audience on May 5, of how much “the world cares what the New York Times reports.”

As Public Editor, Hoyt is the designated readers’ representative, assigned to listening to their complaints and following up. While some messages Hoyt receives point out misspellings and grammatical errors, other tackle big issues.

“I try to write about those subjects that have some larger journalistic meaning – a story that shows some common journalistic failing or that allows me to write about values myself or other journalists use,” he said.

Hoyt spoke to a full house at the Newman Conference Center, gathered to celebrate the publication of the 30th edition of Dollars & Sense.