On sending physician-journalists to cover disasters

Doctor-journalists such as CNN medical reporter Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon, and others from several news organizations were recently questioned for providing care at the same time they were chronicling the staggering effects of the January earthquake in Haiti. Were they there to cover the tragedy or treat the wounded? Are those roles in conflict? Ed Wasserman, a professor of journalism ethics at Washington and Lee University, says the issue is a reminder that “journalism is fraught with moral ambiguities.”

Too close to home

Is it a conflict of interest to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when your son is serving in the Israeli Defense Forces? The question concerns New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner whose 20-year-old son enlisted in the IDF. Adhering to the paper’s ethics guidelines, Bronner informed his editors who saw no reason to change his status as bureau chief.

“Covering Israel’s conflict with a son in uniform might be cause to reassign even a superb reporter,” says Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt, adding “I have enormous respect for Bronner and his work, and he has done nothing wrong. But this is not about punishment; it is simply a difficult reality. I would find a plum assignment for him somewhere else, at least for the duration of his son’s service in the I.D.F.

McIntosh, Shawn

Shawn McIntosh, public editor
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
72 Marietta Street N.W.
Atlanta, GA 30303
Telephone: (404) 526-5819
E-mail: insideajc@ajc.com
Current column…

Schumacher-Matos, Edward

Edward Schumacher-Matos, ombudsman
NPR
635 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20001
Telephone:  (202) 513-3248
Fax: (202) 513-3017

Email: NPR Ombudsman

Current Column…

Jones, Brent

Brent Jones, standards editor
USA Today
7950 Jones Branch Drive
McLean, VA 22108
Telephone: (703) 854-3454
E-mail: bwjones@usatoday.com…

Canadian J-blog notes ONO Web site

The Canadian Journalism Project has informed readers of its blog abou ONO’s newly redesigned Web site.

Read the blog post here.…

Activist historian Howard Zinn’s obit causes a firestorm

A remembrance of activist historian Howard Zinn drew hundreds of comments from NPR listeners. The message was — if you are going to speak ill of the dead, at least do so in a nuanced and even-handed manner.

The radio report quoted three sources: two who praised Zinn, and one who was harshly critical. The criticism came from David Horowitz, a former leftist radical turned right-wing author and commentator, who said, among other things, “There is absolutely nothing in Howard Zinn’s intellectual output that is worthy of any kind of respect.”

Such comments are a bit over the top for Carolyn Gilbert, founder of the International Association of Obituarists. “To pick a fight in the obit is not in the guidelines… and begins to open doors that shouldn’t be open in an obituary.”

NPR’s ombudsman Alicia Shepard agrees with critics who say that NPR was not respectful of Zinn. “It would have been better to wait a day and find a more nuanced critic — as the Washington Post did two days after Zinn died –than rushing a flawed obituary on air.”

Fewer copy editors after staff cuts means more grammar errors

A veteran teacher was asked to edit an edition of The Miami Herald, and she found 133 errors. Problems included grammatical mistakes, missing words, unclear statements, and poor sentence structure. Some of the errors were stylistic but some were more serious and may reflect, according to Ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos, “what inevitably happens as The Herald — like newspapers across the country — has cut copy editors to save costs.”

Three sides to every story

It’s often said there are two sides to every story… “It turns out that there are often three,” notes ESPN Ombudsman Don Ohlmeyer, “your side, the other side and the truth.” Such is the nature of controversy and ESPN’s coverage of the suspension and eventual firing of a college football coach serves as exhibit A.

According to ESPN, the story about Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach overall generated more complaints to the network than any other topic in the past year. Mail sent to the the ombudsman’s mailbag increased sixfold over any other previous issue. Many of the comments were directed at ESPN’s overall coverage of the Leach controversy, not just the telecast.

ONO president promotes ombudsmanship in U.K.

ONO President Stephen Pritchard participated in the annual meeting of the UK Branch of the Commonwealth Journalists Association, a panel of expert speakers on technological and commercial trends in both electronic and print journalism over the first decade of the 21st century.

He said that apart from his counterpart at The Guardian there are no other ombudspersons in the British press, where they were common in major U.S. newspapers and there were now over 70 world-wide. News accountability, he said, was essential to maintain credibility.

Read coverage at BusinessDayOnline.com.…