Margaret Sullivan, editor and vice president of The Buffalo News will be The New York Times's public editor come September 1. She's the first woman to hold that position and the paper's fifth public editor. The decision to hire Sullivan, ends a search for a candidate ever since it news broke the end of May that Arthur Brisbane, the paper's current public editor, did not take a one-year extension on his contract. As Poynter noted earlier this month, "the position has been the post has been held by white men, all at least middle-aged."  If Sullivan's name and connection to The Times sounds familiar, it was just on June 17 that they reported on her relationship with newspaper savior Warren Buffett at the Buffalo News and her editorial choices--she was appointed as the paper's managing editor in 1998, and made decisions in focusing Buffalo News' investigative reporting. "We do really strong work, not to win awards, but to benefit the community. I think we’re very ambitious in our reporting," she told The Times at the time. That said, and knowing about her 12 years in editing investigative, community-driven stories, it will be intersting to see how Sullivan switches hats and starts poking holes in The Times's stories on September 1.  

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Alexander Abad-Santos