Scanning the source

A recent segment on the PBS NewsHour examined efforts to improve the safety of air travel, focusing especially on body-scan screening machines at airports. Among those interviewed was the former Department of Homeland Security chief, Michael Chertoff. Althought Chertoff was introduced as a consultant for one company that manufacturers body scanners, PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler wonders why Chertoff was interviewed for the segment. “There are lots of people who can discuss this controversial topic who do not have a clear self-interest or financial interest and who will not leave viewers suspicious.”

A valediction: Going quietly

In her final column, Siobhain Butterworth, reflects on the past three years as the readers’ editor of the Guardian. “Poring over the work of your fellow writers and subjecting it to public scrutiny can be an uncomfortable experience for everyone involved. Occasionally it is painful, but if there is resistance to the idea of an internal ombudsman (or woman) here at the Guardian I’ve seen little evidence of it.” A successor will be named in a few weeks.

Seal the brown envelope for good

Journalists often report on the wrong-doings of others, but the reporting is not always sufficient when it comes to questionable actions within their own ranks. News organisations have often been accused of maintaining a kind of professional solidarity when dealing with problems such as plagiarism and payoffs.
According to Franz Kruger, ombudsman at the Mail & Guardian, accusations of some journalists accepting money to spin reporting in favor of a political group may be a “Jayson Blair” moment for South African media.

Saying, ‘Yes,’ to courage in journalism, compassion and imagination

Jacqui Banaszynski, Knight Chair Professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, delivered a eulogy at the Washington, D.C., memorial service for Deborah Howell, former ombudsman for The Washington Post.

“We in journalism have lost a guiding star, “Banaszynski said. “But Deborah’s star sparkled at the center of a constellation that continues to grow and shine. Stories beget stories beget stories, and live on.

“So if I look down to find the bottom of my grief, I am looking the wrong way. I need to look up, into a universe that is infinite and eternal. And in that universe, I see not …

Balancing a need to know and a need to respect

Perhaps some of the toughest decisions facing editors for a story like the earthquake in Haiti involves choosing the photographs to accompany the text. Editors strive to achieve a balance between illustrating the scale of destruction and human suffering without being excessively graphic.

Local newspaper editors also take their demographics into consideration when choosing photos. When choosing an image for the front page of the newspaper, editors at the Salt Lake Tribune ask another question: How will parents be able to explain this photo to children?

In the end, the Tribune, like many other newspapers, Web sites and TV news programs, offered warnings of graphic content.

Personal details in fatal-crash story went too far

A number of Toledo Blade readers were outraged by a story about the tragic death of a woman who was struck by a driver going the wrong way on a highway. One reader suggested the newspaper “showed disrespectful indifference when it attempted to call the home of the woman’s parents to get a comment from her siblings.” Readers also did not think details about the woman’s marital status or the fact that she was a mother were pertinent to the story.

The Blade’s ombudsman agrees with readers, up to a point.

Should reporters protect the people they cover?

For many, the topic of anonymous sources conjures images of “Deep Throat” in “All the President’s Men.” A recent Associated Press survey found that one-quarter of newspaper editors who responded say they “never allow reporters to quote anonymous sources; most others have policies designed to limit the practice.”

The Cape Cod Times is among those papers that strictly limits how and when such sources are used. Ombudsman Jayne Iafrate notes that in 2009, the Times used only one anonymous source. According to Editor Paul Pronovost, each story and source is considered on its own merits, adding that “the credibility of the paper and the information is at stake.”

Loud protests on NPR’s ‘Tea Party’ cartoon

An animated political cartoon poking fun at the Tea Party movement has caused an uproar in the blogosphere. The cartoon, on the NPR.org Web site, dismisses participants in the movement as inarticulate, paranoid bumblers. Creator Mark Fiore says the 90-second animation is satire.

“It’s actually not that funny — especially to those on the right, including members of the Tea Party movement, which is populated by passionate Americans who don’t like the direction President Obama is taking the country,” says NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard. She adds the cartoon is a “mean-spirited attack” and does not fit with NPR’s values of civility and civil discourse.

‘Alleged,’ ‘accused’ are important words

Readers wonder why the Express-News and other media report that a suspect “allegedly” killed 12 people last November at Fort Hood, or why another is a “suspect” in an “alleged terrorist attack” on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day.

Legitimate questions, notes Bob Richter, public editor of the Express-News. To the dozens of witnesses in both incidents, it was clear who was behind both incidents. “So why the $10 legalese when anyone with 2 cents worth of common sense knows what happened and who did it?”

It’s simple: The U.S. Bill of Rights grants newspapers “freedom … of the press” but not the freedom to declare someone guilty of a crime.

Tattoos, Woods, rabbits and unrealized promises

“How can a TV host be allowed to get a tattoo on live TV?”

“How can you guys sink so low as to start airing shows about people being unfaithful?”

A selection of recent comments from viewers includes these and other questions about the slaughtering of rabbits on Survivor, refugee “children” and when a particular favorite show will be on again.