Posted by Scoops: It is important, in these often journalistically murky times, for a newspaper or t.v. station or Web content provider to have a public editor, a man or woman designated to represent the people who read and trust a publication. In making the decision of accepting Ryan McDermott as "The Blog of JoeyScoops's" official ombudsman, the editorial staff has made an invaluable judgment as to which direction it wants its future to travel. Of course, technically, the editorial staff is just one man, the handsome and friendly dictator of democracy, Joseph J. Checkler. Sure, he has named Erin Bruehl as an unofficial co-editor (and her contributions are invaluable), and he has extended blogging invitations to such talented NYU graduate journalism students as Beth Carney and Rick Andrew Harrison, but this is, by and large, a Checkler operation, much in the way Watergate was an H.H. Haldeman operation.



With one of the more important presidential elections in recent memory coming up, and with perhaps one of the more memorable Major League Baseball pennant races not far behind, interesting and compelling words in this space are paramount. Now, the site has some more credibility, with the Okrent-esque McDermott on its side, or should we say, the other side.