This image was lost some time after publication.

As we weren't reading Times public editor Barney Calame yesterday — does anyone read insufferably boring and continually irrelevant Times public editor Barney Calame anymore? — we happened across Carl Swanson's Q&A with former public editor Dan Okrent in the new New York mag. It's a discussion of Okrent's new collection of his public-editor columns, which apparently his fans demanded. A highlight:

The only person you really single out in the intro is business reporter David Cay Johnston, who started a campaign against you for being on a corporate board. Yeah, he was very single-out-able. I didn't mention this in the book, but when I had my troubles with Johnston, one of the senior editors said to me, "There are three things you must understand about Johnston: He's a Pulitzer Prize winner, he's a unique talent, and he's an asshole." I'm convinced that at least two of those are correct.

And a highlight from the Calame column we didn't read: "Based on the close look I have given The Times's coverage in response to these messages, the soundness of the news judgment reflected in the paper's performance so far deserves a decent grade."

Come back, Dan? Please?

Good Times [NYM]
Public Editor: Covering the Duke Lacrosse Team Case [NYT]