So long to a Virginian-Pilot tradition…

My one-year stint as The Pilot’s first independent public editor ends in a few days.

The position, created in 1974, was reformulated from one assigned to a full-time employee to a new role occupied by part-time “outsiders.” Thus, the public editor would be empowered to speak for readers with an unfettered voice.

It has been my joy to have been the first – and perhaps the last – person entrusted with that responsibility.

Unfortunately, it falls to me to announce that this column concludes The Pilot’s 34-year commitment to an in-house “watchdog.” While publisher Maurice Jones …

A farewell hope for The Post’s future …

My term as ombudsman ends with this column. My hope for the future is that readers, our lifeblood, will find in The Post, in print and online, journalism they can believe in and that the paper will both engage and enrich the many communities in this region.

Journalism has changed tremendously since my early days covering police and courts in Corpus Christi, Tex. Typewriters and Linotypes are ancient tools, and the Internet sometimes makes ink on paper seem so yesterday. What doesn’t change is fact-gathering and analyses that inform readers and help citizens to form …

Hail Janus! 12 wishes for 2009…

Based on the judgment that readers made about Folha’s performance in 2008, the newspaper should adopt 12 resolutions to improve in 2009

The end and beginning of the year are historically ideal for assessments about the past and commitments to the future. The mythological patron saint of this process is the Roman God Janus, who has one face looking back and other looking forward and, thus, knows what has happened and predicts what will happen. Based on the judgment readers made about the newspaper’s performance in 2008, here are 12 …

Readers weigh in on shoe-throwing story…

I have to tell you, the shoe-throwing episode in Baghdad a week ago today won’t go down in history as a date that shall live in infamy, but it was the most bizarre incident involving a U.S. president in my memory an exclamation point for the end of President George W. Bush’s rocky regime.

Luckily, Bush was athletic enough to dodge both shoes, which were accurately hurled at his head. Had it been Dwight D. Eisenhower, the incident might have been tragic and explosive.

The president handled the situation as well as can be …

Resolutions for a better Post…

The Post is one of the best newspapers in the country — so much better than the hollowed-out newspapers scattered across the landscape. As my term ends, I’d like to again point out ways that The Post can enhance its accessibility, credibility and appeal to readers in this time of economic stress.

The Post needs to value each loyal reader and pay more attention to those who are turned off or don’t see themselves reflected in its pages. Can those readers be brought back? That’s unclear, but it’s worth the effort.

Transparency

The Post should …

Feagler’s Coffee Shoppe characters brew a little …

When Dick Feagler announced at the top of the Forum section front last Sunday that the end of the year would bring the end of his long-running column, disappointment from his many fans was almost palpable. Most of the people I talked to last week, no matter why they had called, noted how much they are going to miss him. That’s true of a lot of us.

But a lower-grade disappointment was also evident in the wake of Feagler’s acknowledgment that the coffee shop conversations that had become a staple of his commentary were …

Deep Throat’s legacy to journalism…

Less than a month ago, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, The Washington Post reporters who helped topple President Nixon, made a surprise visit to Mark Felt, the man known as Deep Throat.

It was a fitting denouement among men who played a historic role in the Watergate scandal, and in changing journalism. It was also the first time that Bernstein had ever met Felt, who died yesterday at 95.

The relationship among the three men was complicated. It was Felt, the No. 2 in the FBI during the 1972 Watergate break-in, who became …

ESPN can define boundaries and keep its edge, too …

The college football bowl championship season is upon us, and the annual debate rages: To replace or not to replace the current skewed bowl selection system, based on computer and poll rankings, with a playoff system, based on teams competing on a level field.

It is arguably the sports world’s most lopsided debate, with the vast majority of those weighing in arguing for (nay, demanding!) a playoff system to determine the best team in the land. Every other NCAA sport has a playoff to determine its champion, they point out, and there is no good …

Pilot loses wealth of experience…

The news about the news business is bleak and getting bleaker around the country – and in Hampton Roads.

Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune, the Daily Press in Newport News and the Los Angeles Times, declared bankruptcy last week. The New York Times will mortgage its headquarters to the tune of $225 million.

“What’s black and white and completely over?” comedian Jon Stewart asked on his Monday show. “It’s newspapers.”

Locally, the news is somber, too. In another cost-cutting move, The Virginian-Pilot last week announced the end of home delivery in parts of the …

Separating the terror and the terrorists…

When 10 young men in an inflatable lifeboat came ashore in Mumbai last month and went on a rampage with machine guns and grenades, taking hostages, setting fires and murdering men, women and children, they were initially described in The Times by many labels.

They were “militants,” “gunmen,” “attackers” and “assailants.” Their actions, which left bodies strewn in the city’s largest train station, five-star hotels, a Jewish center, a cafe and a hospital were described as “coordinated terrorist attacks.” But the men themselves were not called terrorists.

Many readers could not understand it. “I …