The New York Times has tapped its own John Tierney, he of the paper's Political Points column, to fill the op-ed vacancy left by William Safire's retirement last month.

E&P's story quotes Arthur Sulzberger Jr. as saying, "John is a smart reporter and innovative thinker who will always come up with an unexpected take on the issues of the day. He delighted us as a Metro columnist, and as the 'Political Points' writer during the 2004 election. We're looking forward to seeing what he does in this new format."

Previously, Tierney's reporting has come under fire from both Media Matters and in an Columbia Journalism Review essay:

Tierney has a tendency to support his point of view using sources with a clear ideological or special interest agenda, without properly identifying them.