News ombudsmen: An inside view

By Maggie B. Thomas
Associate professor of journalism
Texas Christian University

Presented May 8, 1995, at the 1995 International Convention of the Organization of News Ombudsmen at Fort Worth, Texas.

Please accept my thanks to all of you who responded to the questionnaire designed to gather additional information about the role of news ombudsmen. Questionnaires were mailed to 42 ombudsmen and responses were received from 32, which provided a return rate of 76 percent. Some respondents did not reply to all items.

News ombudsmen perform a variety of tasks and often find themselves explaining or defending the journalistic efforts of …

More media outlets need ombudsmen…

Nearly two years ago, The Oregonian started down a road that few newspapers travel and more should:

The Oregonian created a news ombudsman’s post, to explain how the paper works and to address reader complaints, comments and questions about news coverage.

On Monday, I will leave that job to become editor of the editorial page.

In general, news organizations are not prone to public self-criticism. That is illustrated by the fact that, according to the Organization of News Ombudsmen, only 35 news organizations in the United States have ombudsmen.

There are more than 1,500 daily newspapers …

Cut? That small word is loaded with potential for dispute, d…

You’d think simple words wouldn’t cause fits.

But, of course, they do all the time. Just consider the word “cuts.”

Then add it to stories that speak of budget cuts, Medicare cuts, welfare cuts.

Each time we’ve published that word lately, my phone line has been jammed. “The Republican Medicare plan is not a cut,” some assert. It’s “slowed growth,” or “slowdown in planned spending.” The dollars aren’t cut. They just aren’t increasing as much as was once planned.

I remind copy editors assigned to write one-column headlines of the hot-button nature of the …

Readers want the news media to cover issues more thoroughly…

The richest and poorest Americans are more likely to blame the media for the condition of the nation, reports the Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press.

In a scientific survey of the American public, the Times Mirror Center asked: “In your opinion, what is the biggest threat to people like yourself in the future?”

Government was the most common answer (50 percent), followed by the news media (15 percent) and business (13 percent).

But two kinds of people were most likely to blame the news media.

One of the groups unhappiest with …

This Palm Beach party was news…

I don’t want to know about it, and I especially don’t want it stripped across the top of Page One in my Sunday paper.

That’s how some reacted to Frank Cerabino’s October 22 column about Chase Lanting’s birthday party (“Palm Beach Boy’s B-day will be more like D-Day.”)

About a dozen wrote asking why The Post let Robin and Bill Lanting make such a big deal about their penchant for making a big deal of their childrens’ birthdays.

“It should have been in the social section,” said Donna Holland of Jupiter. “I was shocked,” …