WebNewser comments on revamped Web site

WebNewser’s David Cohen spreads the word throughout the online journalism community about ONO’s revamped Web site and its potential for success.

Read WebNewser’s blog post here.…

Ombuds Blog comments on new Web site

The Ombuds Blog, a blog devoted to news and information about all sorts of organizational ombudsmen, has taken note of ONO’s revamped Web site. Tom Kosakowski of Los Angeles, Calif., the blog’s author, wrote “ONO promises that the new site will be an important source for media criticism and a necessary companion for navigating the news. ”

Read the Ombuds Blog post here.…

FishbowlNY takes note of ONO Web site

FishbowlNY, a Media Bistro blog, asks the question, “Can this new site catch on as a place for Web readers to check in on MSM watchdogs?”

Read the FishbowlNY post here.…

ONO launches redesigned Web site

For Immediate Release                                  Contact: Laura Gross, lgross@scottcircle.com

February 3, 2010                                                w: 202-265-5383, c: 202-255-2054                                                       

Protecting and Navigating the News

Organization of News Ombudsmen Launches New Web Site

Un-biased Resource for Changing Media Landscape

Washington, D.C. – As news organizations continue close and more of the press becomes opinionated and polarized, people need a resource to ensure accuracy, fairness and accountability of the press. In order to navigate the complicated, media landscape, The Organization of News Ombudsmen (ONO) recently launched a new Web site to serve as a hub for their international organization and a …

Diadiun, Ted

Ted Diadiun, reader representative
The Plain Dealer
1801 Superior Ave.
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
Telephone: (216) 999-4408
E-mail: tdiadiun@plaind.com
Current Column…

2010 ONO Conference

The 2010 ONO Conference will be held May 12-15 at Reuters Institute, Oxford University in Oxford, England. The theme is “Expanding ONO’s Influence in a Digital Age.”…

Face to face with tragedy

Many of the images coming out of Haiti are disturbing, graphically showing the grim reality and magnitude of death, destruction, and human suffering caused by last month’s earthquake. For some readers of The New York Times, the photographs have been exploitive and sensationalistic.

“The numerous photographs printed in The Times showing the dead strewn about the streets of Port-au-Prince are unnecessary, unethical, unkind and inhumane,” wrote one reader. And another, “If this had happened in California, I cannot imagine a similar depiction of half-clothed bodies splayed out for the camera. What are you thinking?”

Yet other readers are grateful for the shocking pictures, even as they were deeply troubled by them. One reader suggested the images serve as motivation to spur people to take action — “How else can you motivate or inspire someone like me to donate money to help out in Haiti?”

The Times’ public editor, Clark Hoyt, notes that situations such as this present photographers and editors with the challenge of telling the unsanitized truth without crossing into the offensive and truly exploitive.

Why the letters page is still a male stronghold

Readers do not necessarily suspect a sexist conspiracy at the Observer, but they do wonder why the paper publishes more letters from men than from women. “Are letters from men more interesting and relevant and therefore more likely to be selected?” asked one reader.

According to Observer Readers’ Editor Stephen Pritchard, men write many more letters to the paper than women, so they probably stand a better chance of getting published. Additionally, the serial letter writers, those who write every week and sometimes every day, are exclusively male. Since most letters are written in response to pieces in the paper, Pritchard wonders if this says something about its content appealing more to men than women? “We’ll only know if many more women write to tell us.”

Noting ‘non-standard’ English troubles some readers

Kansas City Star readers prefer the newspaper avoid slang, jargon, abbreviations and improper English. Readers’ Representative Derek Donovan adds to that list neologism and terminology unique to certain professions. And when it comes to slang and dialects, things get more complex.

Informal language can enliven dull writing, but it should fit the situation appropriately. As Donovan notes, “There’s a good counter-argument that these informal usages are an undeniable part of everyone’s daily life, and journalism shouldn’t always shy away from them. But here, you have to pick and choose where it’s appropriate.”