(2003-10-27) -- The New York Times today announced the hiring of Daniel Okrent as its first "public editor," a kind of reader's representative. Mr. Okrent is perhaps best known as the "Founder and Former Commissioner-for-Life" of Rotisserie League Baseball, one of the earliest of the so-called "fantasy" sports leagues that allow ordinary people to pretend they own professional sports franchises.

In his first public act as public editor, Mr. Okrent announced the formation of the Rotisserie Journalism League (RJL), a new game which allows ordinary people to pretend they run the newsroom of The New York Times or any of dozens of other news organizations.

As a fantasy "Editor-in-Chief" an RJL player will hire and fire "real" journalists, or simply move them to different departments when their integrity is questioned, said Mr. Okrent. The RJL web site will monitor daily newsstand sales, circulation figures, Arbitron and Nielsen ratings, Pulitzer Prizes and Emmy Awards as well as plagiarism and libel lawsuits and out-of-court settlements. The "Editor-in-Chief" will be rewarded or punished according to the perceived integrity of his roster, and his ability to shield sources and newsroom operations from the scrutiny of other players.

"You lose points if one of your reporters invents quotations from a source he never really interviewed," said Mr. Okrent. "But you gain points if he actually locates an expert source to express the reporter's own opinion in a way that makes the story seem objective. In journalism, that's what we call 'hustle'."

The former managing editor of Life magazine and of Time Inc.'s new media operations, Mr. Okrent said RJL bonus points will be awared to players who can hire an ombudsman who worked for the world's largest media company and yet successfully portray him as "an objective outsider...a real man of the people."