National Public Radio hired a new “Public Editor” or ombudsman. It’s Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute, which counts PolitiFact as one of its projects. This is more of a merger than a straight-up hiring. McBride will maintain her position as a senior vice president at Poynter, and use Poynter staff to address the concerns of NPR listeners. Both sides of this transaction talked in high-minded language about “rigorous, fact-based and context-rich journalism,” but this is an ideological arrangement between liberals.