then the media writer for the liberal Village Voice, accused him in 2006 of nitpicking a Times national security article. Some assessments were more positive. Calame was awarded the 2006 Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism for six of his public editor columns. "’He was forthright in his examination and was not afraid to say exactly what he thought and to hold the newspaper accountable,’ said Peter Bhatia, a former American Society of News Editors president who was one of the three judges. As Calame neared the end of his term, Shafer told the New York Observer: "I think that Barney has gotten better. He’s not engaging in the ankle-biting behavior he was before. I would give him a B for reversing direction, and getting away from attacking the capillaries". Calame severely criticized Judith Miller after the conclusion of the legal maneuvering over her controversial decision to go to jail in 2005 rather than reveal her sources of information. He challenged "shortcuts" she had taken in her reporting and concluded "the problems facing her inside and outside the newsroom will make it difficult for her to return to the paper as a reporter". His views were hotly contested by Miller and her supporters, who contended that Calame was acting more like a management representative than an independent thinker. He revealed that an April 9, 2006, The New York Times Magazine cover story by Jack Hitt had asserted—without checking the trial record—that a woman in El Salvador had been sentenced to 30 years in prison for having an abortion; in fact, she had been convicted of murdering a newborn baby. Calame criticized two assistant managing editors who refused to retract letters to readers insisting the story was accurate—after being told of the true verdict—and refused run a correction in the paper until the outcry that developed after his column appeared. A January 1, 2006 column accused Times executive editor, Bill Keller, and publisher, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., of "stonewalling" for refusing to answer Calame's questions about how long Keller had held up publication of a December 16, 2005, story about National Security Agency classified wiretapping programs. Eight months later, Keller acknowledged to Calame that the story had been held up before the 2004 presidential election and longer than the one year stated in the original article. References External links Calame Public Editor Columns The New York Times public editors 1939 births Living