Social Media Interactions
Judge Walker Is Gay. Are You Sure? Does It Matter?
Deciding when there is a compelling news reason to mention someone’s sexual orientation is a tough ethical decision. NPR has a policy against publishing or airing rumors, allegations or reports about private lives of anyone unless there is a compelling news reason to do so.
According to Ombudsman Alicia Shepard, NPR does not seem to be following its own policy consistently. Shepard suggests the company should clarify its policy and make sure all staffers understand the rules on how to report on issues of people’s private lives, including their sexual orientations.
When a news item goes viral
How should journalists harness the vast reach and power of the digital universe? Shouldn’t we aim for a more significant measure of success than a “water cooler” story going viral?
‘Facts’ about Cuba often not easy to ferret out
Reporting and writing on Cuba under the Castro brothers is like The Perils of Pauline. Dangers abound. Make a mistake, and the train might run you over.
Brisbane will be new public editor at New York Times
The New York Times today named its next public editor, Arthur S. Brisbane, a journalist and news executive with 34 years experience, including as publisher and editor of The Kansas City Star and as reporter and editor at The Washington Post.
Brisbane is the fourth public editor appointed by The Times.
Job was like “a shock absorber”
Media Matters’ Joe Strupp interviews departing New York Times Ombudsman Clark Hoyt at the end of his three-year run in the post. He says the experience has been positive, although sometimes making him feel like “a shock absorber.”
“I was expecting it to be sort of a shock absorber job between the newsroom and individual…s who were commenting about things – that is the way it has turned out to be,” Hoyt said.
Being the complaint department at The New York Times
When veteran journalist Daniel Okrent joined the New York Times as the newspaper’s first public editor in 2003, he entered a newsroom reeling in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal and found himself critiquing the work of some of the best reporters in the country—many of whom were unused to having their work questioned. As a result, he says staffers “were very, very dubious, and in some cases openly hostile” toward him. ”
Working to strengthen trust with readers
The Guardian and the Observer are unique in the British press in having readers’ editors – journalists who listen to the complaints and concerns of the audience and act on their behalf, correcting errors and writing columns on the papers’ journalism.
The Guardian was the first to set up the post in 1997 followed four years later by the Observer, although the role on the Sunday paper is combined with other duties. The terms of reference for the Guardian post include “to collect, consider, investigate, respond to, and where appropriate come to a conclusion about readers’ comments, concerns, and complaints in…
Brisbane will be new public editor at New York Times
The New York Times today named its next public editor, Arthur S. Brisbane, a journalist and news executive with 34 years experience, including as publisher and editor of The Kansas City Star and as reporter and editor at The Washington Post.
Brisbane is the fourth public editor appointed by The Times.
Why can’t journalists handle public criticism?
Scott Rosenberg, writing for MedisShift’s Idea Lab: “I would argue that the difficulty American journalists have with hearing or responding to criticism lies in the profession’s pathological heritage of self-abnegation. We say, “To err is human,” right? But journalists too often work inside an institutional culture which says to them, “Be inhuman.” Do not have opinions — and if you do, for God’s sake don’t share them. Do not attend protests or take stands on issues. Do not vote; or, if you do, don’t tell anyone whom you voted for.”
Keeping Tabs on the Times
Part journalistic Renaissance man, part regular guy, former reporter, columnist, editor, publisher and corporate executive, Arthur Brisbane is the new public editor of The New York Times.
Read more: Keeping Tabs on the Times
Funny kind of name: Ombudsman
NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard speaks with one of NPR’s summer interns about the “loneliest job in the newsroom.”
Press councils’ choice: make big changes, or fade to black
Press councils across Canada are declining because they lack relevance, credibility and money, writes Brian Gabrial. Yet the need for a watchdog over journalism’s ethics has never been greater, and it’s time to choose between accepting a slow death and taking some bold—and controversial—moves.
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War logs and asbestos
By Jeffrey Dvorkin
ONO executive director
The recent revelations about the conduct of the war in the Wikileaks' Afghan War Logs is stunning in its scope. The reports (simultaneously published in three media outlets - the New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel) show how the nine-year-old conflict has been botched.
In more than 90,000 documents, Wikileaks gives a detailed look at how a lack of knowledge of the region and its people, an over-reliance on high-tech weaponry and a lack of clear policy direction have led us to this point.
The reports have been greeted with much defensiveness: the American government says things are going much better now that the Obama administration has taken control. Some inside the administration and in Congress are dismissing Wikileaks as the dubious efforts of a somewhat mysterious anti-war blogger, Julian Assange. He calls it the most comprehensive history of a war ever to be published, during the course of the war and compares the release of the war logs with the release of the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s.
Wikileaks was clever about how this story broke: instead of just dumping the documents on its website, where it could easily be ignored, Assange worked with three legacy media organizations. They in turn, used their editorial expertise to make sense of it all.
This is precisely how new media and old media will work in the future.
Continue reading Jeffrey Dvorkin's blog
