A newspaper needs urgency, excitement…

Lou Gelfand, ombudsman for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and I were catching up by telephone last Tuesday. “What are you going to write about this week?” Lou asked me.

“I think I’ll write about what it means to be an ombudsman,” I replied. “I need to remind myself every once in a while what this job is about.”

In fact, I have been the ombudsman, or readers representative, for The San Diego Union-Tribune since Feb. 2, 1992, a date I never have to look up. That’s when the morning San Diego Union, my old newspaper, …

Address to The Association of Turkish Journalists

By Michele McLellan
Public editor, The Oregonian

Michele McLellan delivered this speech to the Association of Turkish Journalists on Sept. 13, 1999, at an all-day conference in Istanbul on “Quality and Self-Control in the Media.”

Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today in Istanbul.

The first time I visited your city, I stayed three days and it wasn’t enough. Now I am here for 10 days and it still isn’t enough. So I am thinking perhaps next time I should stay for a few years!

I am equally honored to be invited to speak to you today …