Wikipedia is hardly authoritative on any subject…

One of the most important tasks of a readers’ representative is to make sure the newspaper gets its facts straight. I’m gratified that readers never seem shy about pointing out errors in the The Kansas City Star.

I always try to verify information from independent, disinterested resources, as any journalist should. That’s why I’ve been chagrined lately to see more and more readers citing Wikipedia as proof of their assertions.

Wikipedia, which calls itself “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit,” is a Web site containing more than 1.5 million articles on a vast array of subjects,…

Brown, Ford deaths test AJC’s print, online ability…

Wasn’t it just like the flamboyant and iconic James Brown to die on Christmas morning?

That was the joke in our Features Department this week as staffers cut their vacations short to cover the Godfather of Soul’s passing at Atlanta’s Emory Crawford Long Hospital.

The deaths of Brown and former President Gerald Ford both important men with distinctively different American stories challenged deadlines and the skeleton crew that typically staffs The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newsroom during the holidays.

Night editors learned of Ford’s death in a one-sentence wire service advisory around 11:50 p.m. Tuesday. It was too late to make…

How the Times-Union covers a Jaguars game…

When the Jaguars play at home, the Times-Union deploys a small horde to cover the game, usually 12 or more at Alltel Stadium, and that many more at the newspaper.

Their ranks include a photographer who has shot every preseason, regular-season and playoff game in Jaguars history; a writer who has covered 34 Super Bowls; and a couple of crack copy editors who sometimes cheer for the opposing team.

There are problems. Not enough space for one thing, even though the paper devotes far more space and attention to the football team than any other subject.

And then there’s…

Sun working to bring the news into Internet age…

The fact that 2006 has been tumultuous for The Sun will come as no shock to regular readers of this column. More than ever I get questions from subscribers, friends, neighbors and colleagues about the future of this newspaper.

These queries come partly because The Tribune Co., The Sun’s corporate parent, has put itself up for sale, one of a number of major events that have affected The Sun and newspapers across the country in 2006. Shareholders unhappy with the performance of newspaper company stocks last year forced the sale of Knight Ridder’s chain of newspapers. Now,…

Organized crime…

The press has an obligation to closely follow the complaint against a journalist suspected of involvement in a criminal gang

Journalist Joo Messias Xavier was accused by authorities of participating in gangs fighting for control of criminal organizations in Rio de Janeiro. According to the complaint announced by justice officials, Messias sold information to the mafia that he collected as a journalist and wrote his stories in a way to damage a rival criminal organization.

Prosecutors sought the journalist’s arrest. Judicial officials did not cooperate, though they did authorize a warrant to search his home and…

Looking back, one year later…

After my first year as The Post’s ombudsman, readers deserve a report on my job as their representative.

The Post stylebook says that “Ombudsmen provide . . . newsroom managers with another set of skeptical eyes to search out human error and incompetence and another set of ears to lend to the masses.”

These eyes and ears have gotten tens of thousands of comments and complaints. The most important part of this job is dealing with readers. Most of the complaints handled (I can’t address them all) have been resolved satisfactorily or I have disagreed with the reader.…

Some readers’ comments can get personal — and vicious…

The act of welcoming the newspaper to their breakfast tables each morning can make readers feel a personal connection with the people who write, edit, take photos for and design their daily paper. It creates a bond that goes far beyond the usual business-consumer relationship.

That leads some readers to express themselves in acutely personal ways, almost like family. The regular flow of feedback is mostly welcome, a reminder of the important role we play in readers’ lives. In what other line of work would a stranger back you up against the lettuce bin of the…

Daily Tributes garner a mostly positive reception readers re…

The Kansas City Star’s new “Tribute” feature spotlights area residents who have died recently. Anecdotes from family and friends cast the individuals in a more personal, and often quirkier light, than the normal obituaries in the Remembrances section.

Scores of readers have contacted me about the “Tributes” since they made their debut in June, and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive in general. Sometimes the accolades have come from family members who find solace in seeing their loved ones’ lives commemorated in print.

Marcelo Rosa wrote after a “Tribute” about his wife, Kimberly: “The tribute honors the…

A farewell to a changing industry …

It wouldn’t surprise me if you missed the article that is changing my life forever. On Nov. 2, The San Diego Union-Tribune ran a six-line announcement on Page 3 of the Business section saying that 67 employees who have been with the company 30 years or longer had been offered voluntary retirement incentive packages. That includes me.

While generous, the retirement package offered to longtime employees is a sign of what is going on with newspapers in these days of declining ad revenue and dropping circulation. Those two factors result in decisions that affect readers in…

The language used in coverage of the Ipswich murders …

Several readers have written to question some of the language used in the Guardian’s coverage of the Ipswich murders. They complain that the use of the word “prostitutes” in headlines, and its repeated use in text, are dehumanising and imply a value judgment about the lives of the women to whom the term is applied.

One reader, writing about the paper of December 12, was perplexed by what he saw as a contrast in attitude between that day’s front-page heading, “Two more prostitutes missing”, and the sentiments expressed by a writer, a woman, in the second section, G2:…