What is an ombudsman?
An ombudsman is someone who handles complaints and attempts to find mutually satisfactory solutions. Ombudsmen can be found in government, corporations, hospitals, universities and other institutions. The first ombudsman was appointed in 1809 in Sweden to handle citizens’ complaints about the government. The word is pronounced “om-BUDS-man” and is Scandinavian in origin.
What is a news ombudsman?
A news ombudsman receives and investigates complaints from newspaper readers or listeners or viewers of radio and television stations about accuracy, fairness, balance and good taste in news coverage. He or she recommends appropriate remedies or responses to correct or clarify news reports.
Why should a newspaper or broadcaster have an ombudsman?
- To improve the quality of news reporting by monitoring accuracy, fairness and balance.
- To help his or her news provider to become more accessible and accountable to readers or audience members and, thus, to become more credible.
- To increase the awareness of its news professionals about the public’s concerns.
- To save time for publishers and senior editors, or broadcasters and news directors, by channeling complaints and other inquiries to one responsible individual.
- To resolve some complaints that might otherwise be sent to attorneys and become costly lawsuits.
How do news ombudsmen work?
No two ombudsmen work exactly alike. But typically, they monitor news and feature columns, photography and other graphic materials for fairness, accuracy and balance. They bring substandard items to the attention of the appropriate members of the news staff.
They investigate and reply to comments and complaints concerning published or broadcast news and feature material. They obtain explanations from editors and other staff members for readers, viewers or listeners.
Some supervise the preparation of corrections. Others write internal newsletters about readers’ views and complaints. Many news ombudsmen write regular columns that deal with issues of broad public interest, or with specific grievances. Where appropriate, columns may criticize, explain or praise.
Other ombudsmen initiate or coordinate public forums or reader advisory boards in an effort to connect more closely with readers. Many speak before various public and private groups to help explain media practices. Some send accuracy questionnaires to persons whose names have appeared in news stories and ask for comments.
In some smaller news organizations ombudsmen find it necessary to assume other news-related duties. But in any event, news ombudsmen generally function in an advisory capacity only, not as disciplinarians.
How does the public benefit?
An ombudsman helps to explain the news-gathering process to the public, a process that often is mysterious and, therefore, suspect to many readers.
Having a contact person can help overcome the belief that news media are aloof, arrogant or insensitive to concerns of the public and generally inaccessible to average citizens.
An ombudsman’s column provides still another useful forum for readers, particularly in one-newspaper cities.
Who pays?
Most ombudsmen are selected from within the senior staff of the newspaper or broadcaster they monitor. A few are on fixed-term, noncancelable contracts. In any case, they typically have deep experience in journalism and are chosen also because they have the ability to relate easily and undefensively to readers.
Is this a new idea?
Relatively speaking, yes — at least in the United States and Canada. The first newspaper ombudsman in the U.S. was appointed in June 1967 in Louisville, Kentucky, to serve readers of The Courier-Journal and The Louisville Times. The first Canadian appointment — at The Toronto Star — was in 1972. The concept was in place much earlier in Japan. The Asahi Shimbun in Tokyo established a committee in 1922 to receive and investigate reader complaints. Another mass circulation Tokyo paper, The Yomiuri Shimbun, set up a staff committee in 1938 to monitor the paper’s quality. In 1951 this group became an ombudsman committee which today hears reader complaints about the paper and which meets daily with editors. News ombudsmen today are found throughout North and South America, Europe, and parts of the Middle East and Asia.
Are they always called “ombudsmen?”
No. Some newspapers use titles such as “readers’ representative,” “readers’ advocate,” or “public editor.” Others have an assistant managing editor or an assistant to a senior editor act as an ombudsman.
What is the Organization of News Ombudsmen (ONO)?
Formed in 1980, ONO is a nonprofit corporation with an international membership of active and associate members. It maintains contact with news ombudsmen worldwide, and organizes annual conferences, held in a member’s city, for discussion of news practices and a wide range of issues connected with ombudsman work.
What are ONO’s purposes?
- To help the journalism profession achieve and maintain high ethical standards in news reporting, thereby enhancing its own credibility among the people it serves.
- To establish and refine standards for the job of news ombudsman or reader representative.
- To help in the wider establishment of the position of news ombudsman on newspapers and elsewhere in the media.
- To provide a forum for exchanging experiences, information and ideas among its members.
- To develop contacts with publishers, editors, press councils and other professional organizations, provide speakers for special interest groups and respond to media inquiries.
What happens at the organization’s annual conference?
ONO’s yearly meetings are usually held over 2 1/2 working days, and include seminars, panels and speakers on current journalistic topics of special interest to ombudsmen. In addition, ample program time is allotted for shoptalk discussions. Members share their experiences and counsel about how to handle difficult situations.
Conference speakers have included David Shaw, Los Angeles Times media critic; British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper; Ben Bradlee, former Washington Post editor; ethicist Michael Josephson; Dr. Roy Peter Clark of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies; and Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Steve Benson.
Among conference topics have been: coverage of minorities; coverage of sex crimes; the ombudsman’s relationship to the news department; the use of anonymous sources; invasion of privacy; plagiarism; conflicts of interest; and a plethora of ethical issues.
ONO’s most recent conference was held May 10-13, 2009, in Washington, D.C.,
In addition to attending ONO’s annual meeting, many ombudsmen participate in regular mini-conferences conducted by four-way conference telephone calls throughout the year. During these calls — coordinated by an ONO office — views are swapped and problems are shared, all with the aim of providing participants with support, counsel and problem-solving ideas.
Who may join the Organization of News Ombudsmen?
The organization welcomes all news ombudsmen. Others from the media, press councils, journalism schools or journalism publications may apply for associate membership.
For information about membership, please contact Jeffrey Dvorkin, ONO’s executive director, at 775 Manning Avenue, Toronto, Ont. M6G 2W7, Canada. You may telephone him at 416-537-2892 or e-mail jdvorkin@newsombudsmen.org. Annual dues are $150 U.S.
