Interesting changes on the Sunday New York Times op-ed pages–the most coveted real estate in opinion journalism. Via Editor and Publisher:

As promised, The New York Times unveiled its expanded Sunday op-ed section, a move set in motion at least partly by the decision to move the lengthy Frank Rich contributions here from Arts & Leisure. But there are several added angles, as well.

For one thing, since the new two-page group of columns runs as a spread, not merely opposite the editorials, the name has been changed from op-ed to “opinion.”

The paper has also shuffled columnists with longtime Sunday favorites Maureen Dowd and Thomas L. Friedman exiting this space to other days. The regulars on Sunday, as announced today by Gail Collins, the editorial page editor, will be Rich, Nicholas Kristof, and David Brooks.

The paper printed a box with the new schedule, which places Dowd on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with Friedman on Wednesdays and Fridays. John Tierney, who replaces William Safire, will appear on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

On a related note, the “Public Editor” column, the regular every-other-week feature by the paper’s ombudsman, will become a free-floating column to be published “whenever the ombud chooses to write one.”

Reader accountability at the New York Times: They’ll get around to it when they feel like it. So bug off.

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Related:

Outgoing public editor Daniel Okrent’s latest column…it’s a doozy.