Time to commemorate access, accountability
“Sunshine Week” in the United States runs from March 14 through March 20. It’s a national initiative led by news organizations, universities and the American Society of News Editors to focus on the importance of open government and freedom of information. Shawn McIntosh, public editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, notes the event is an opportunity to remind readers of the value and importance of public records and meetings laws, known as sunshine laws because they allow light to shine on government.
A painful, powerful program
“The Suicide Tourist” documents the journey of 59-year-old Craig Ewert from his diagnosis of ALS to his legal, medically-assisted suicide in Zurich, Switzerland. The PBS program, Frontline, aired the documentary earlier this month.
The subject is controversial but the film was not necessarily about the issue. Rather, it is an extraordinary and intimate portrait of Ewert, says PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler, “It is hard, and uncomfortable, to watch this unfold. I had to take a long walk in the cold after it was over. Yet it was, for me, one of the most riveting hours I’ve spent watching television.” Many viewers felt the same way.
Which sports to cover? It’s a tough call
Readers of the Los Angeles Times often ask why a particular sport, team or event is not covered. But the Sports department, like so many other parts of the newspaper, has been reduced in size over the past few years.
Sports Editor Mike James says the result is to try and make sure they reach the greatest number of readers with the available resources. “It’s a balancing act every day. I won’t say all our choices are always correct, but I’ll say that they are all made after careful consideration.”
ONO president promotes ombudsmanship in U.K.
ONO President Stephen Pritchard participated in the annual meeting of the UK Branch of the Commonwealth Journalists Association, a panel of expert speakers on technological and commercial trends in both electronic and print journalism over the first decade of the 21st century.
He said that apart from his counterpart at The Guardian there are no other ombudspersons in the British press, where they were common in major U.S. newspapers and there were now over 70 world-wide. News accountability, he said, was essential to maintain credibility.
Saying, ‘Yes,’ to courage in journalism, compassion and imagination
Jacqui Banaszynski, Knight Chair Professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, delivered a eulogy at the Washington, D.C., memorial service for Deborah Howell, former ombudsman for The Washington Post.
“We in journalism have lost a guiding star, “Banaszynski said. “But Deborah’s star sparkled at the center of a constellation that continues to grow and shine. Stories beget stories beget stories, and live on.
“So if I look down to find the bottom of my grief, I am looking the wrong way. I need to look up, into a universe that is infinite and eternal. And in that universe, I see not cold ash, but…
Memorials scheduled for former Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell
Will consumers continue to pay for news?
News has become a commodity, concludes E-commerce Times. But Jeffrey Dvorkin, ONO’s executive director, says “… I am optimistic that solid and reliable information will always find a market and a public willing to pay for it.”
Hanif represents ONO in Azerbaijan
C.B. Hanif is representing ONO in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he is consulting with journalists concerned about the accountability of the press in the former Soviet republic on the Caspian Sea.
“I am hearing these concerns and sharing the experiences of the Organization of New Ombudsmen in improving journalistic accuracy and fairness, accountability and transparency, independence and credibility at news organizations around the world,” Hanif reports in his blog, “Hanif on Media.”
“How Azeris choose to develop their news organizations obviously will be their decisions. The societal challenges are not to be taken lightly,” he wrote.
“I’m hopeful that, as elsewhere, Azeris from editors to…
Free press vital for transparent society, say journalists
Journalists always desire free, courageous, bold and independent journalism, and this leads to transparency in society, said the vice chairman of the International Organization of News Ombudsmen, or ONO, at a conference in Istanbul, entitled “Professional Standards and Self-Regulation in Media and the State of Play of …Media Policy in Southeast Europe.”
“Our main goal is to fight corruption, unfairness, injustice and crimes of humanity as well as moral and political values,” said Yavuz Baydar, who also works at daily Sabah. “Only clear and open press can contribute to an open and clear society. For media, it is vital to be…
Self-control and dialogue in midst of controversy — lessons from Denmark
Good afternoon everyone. Thank you so much for this opportunity to address the issue of public service broadcasting and ombudsmanship!
As we all know, news ombudsmen and readers editors are used at some of the best newspapers in the world. Washington Post was one of the innovators. Folha de Sao Paolo, Le Monde, The New York Times, The Guardian and many others have followed the example during the last decades.
This kind of ombudsmanship builds on a strong tradition. Every newspaper has its own way of doing it, but the basics are the same. In other words: Here you have a well…
Ombudsman: Self-criticism in newspapers
By Jairo Faria Mendes
Master of Arts in communication and culture
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Few people know what an ombudsman is, but various of the biggest newspapers in the world have the column, as Le Monde (France); El Pa¡s (Spain); Washington Post, Boston Globe e Philadelphia Inquirer (USA); The London Free Press, Calgary Herald, Montreal Gazete, Toronto Star e Halifax Cronicle-Herald (Canada) for instance; and even the Russian newspapers Izvestiya, known as an official organ of the communist party of the extinguished USSR. About half of the Japanese newspapers have an ombudsman, among which the one with the biggest circulation…
Fighting the enemy within
(Andrew Finkel was until recently a Reagan–Fascell Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington. He has also served as a correspondent based in Istanbul for a variety of international organisations including The Times, TIME, the Economist, and CNN. He is also one of the few foreigners to have written a regular column in the Turkish language media.)
By Andrew Finkel
IBI Global Journalist
Blaming the media when things go wrong may be an old political trick, but it is one that succeeded only too well in earning Turkey’s prime minister Tayyip Erdoðan an enthusiastic round of applause in a speech…
