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 …

A 19th century editor’s advice: Don’t try to understand why…

A question for the world history SOL test: When was The Year of Confusion?

(A) 46 B.C.; (B) 1999; (C) 2000.

The answer, as savvy readers and Standards of Learning savants know, is all of the above.

Generally, this column avoids addressing subjects already exhausted by the columnists, critics and commentators on newspapers, radio, television and,lately, the Internet.

Wayne and Vivian Kendrick of Palmyra and The Times-Dispatch have forced me to tread where others have trod before. The worn path leads to the beginning of the 21st century.

An e-mail from the Kendricks last week …

A slew of editors, but never enough…

“Today’s journalists are constantly being reminded that they are functionaries of business, yet they know in their hearts that the stock price is a hollow god. They believe…that they work for the entire community, not just the stockholders.” — John Carroll, editor of the Baltimore Sun and former editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader, in remarks made upon accepting the Editor of the Year Award from the National Press Foundation.

Of the Courier-Journal’s 224 news department employees, 75 have the word “editor” in their job titles.

That would appear to be enough editors to put out …

Missing pages, ink smears and the debate about the millenniu…

The Bee’s content in the past week or so provided some readers with minor irritants, generated a suggestion or two, and helped renew a local version of the international millennium debate.

First, the items that irritate.

• The weekly On TV booklet last weekend generated calls when one page was left out and another duplicated due to a mistake in the printing plant. Those who requested help were provided with the missing page.
• Reader Gregory Shaffer suggested that every section of the newspaper should print a phone number where messages could be left regarding content.
• An

…

Reading something into a faceless photo…

A week ago last Saturday, I went to a coffee house, ordered a latte extra-foamy and sat down to read my Union-Tribune. What I saw on the front page stopped me mid-sip. There was a photograph of a woman sitting in an oversized rocker. Her face was obscured by a book she was holding in front of her. The caption told me it was Sharon Davis, wife of Gov. Gray Davis, and she was showing children at Rosa Parks School an illustration from a book she was reading to them.

The problem with the …

Public Inauthenticity: a Crisis of Falling Expectations

By Jack Fuller
President, Tribune Publishing Co.

It is a rare pleasure to be here today. When I was editor of the Chicago Tribune, I learned that an editor is expected to speak with authority about pretty nearly everything.

But since I have moved over to the business side of the newspaper, or as my reporter friends like to call it, “the dark side,” I find that nobody expects me to think about much of anything any more-except maybe about money.

Occasionally, though, I still do sneak a non-monetary thought and lately I’ve been fretting about the quality of public …

The 1999 Philip M. Foisie Memorial Lecture

The fourth annual Philip M. Foisie Memorial Lecture was delivered on May 12, 1999, at the Chicago Athletic Club, Chicago, Ill., by syndicated columnist E.J. Dionne.

Dionne spent 14 years with the New York Times, reporting on state and local government, national politics, and from around the world, including stints in Paris, Rome and Beirut. The Los Angeles Times praised his coverage of the Vatican as the best in two decades.

His analysis of American politics and trends of public sentiment is recognized as among the best in the business.

In 1990, Dionne joined the Washington Post as a reporter, …

Cigars, readers and a cloud of controversy…

For nearly five years now, the Union-Tribune has been running occasional pieces about the jobs people do. The series has featured a biochemist turned brewer, a medical examiner, a pyrotechnician, a sign-language translator, a sheriff’s correctional deputy, an Army recruiter.

They aren’t news stories; they aren’t about huge events. Yet, they tell us how some of our friends and neighbors earn their living. A recent story, however, brought stinging remarks from readers aghast at the topic. The April 19 story was about a cigar store owner and was accompanied by three photos, two showing …

Littleton tragedy challenged the media’s methods…

Horrendous tragedies like the killings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., present the media with special challenges.

Newspapers and television, especially, must grapple with myriad concerns as they attempt to tell readers what happened and why — and to provide some context of possible consequences. They must choose — sometimes quickly — the words and images that best convey the gravity of the events. And they must, hopefully, turn a local lens on a national story.

There’s always the risk of succumbing to overkill or a too-graphic presentation. And the concern — fear, even — …