A dangerous trend for freedom of the press in Japan

By Takeshi Maezawa
Journal of Communication Studies © 2001

Freedom of the press is threatened in Japan. Ruling parties, administrative authorities and some civil organizations have been eager to suggest legal restrictions for the mass media.

On Oct. 11, 2000, the government’s Committee on the Protection of Personal Data submitted proposed legislation that would authorize the government to regulate newsgathering and reporting.

On Dec. 28, 2000, the Council for the Promotion of Civil Liberties at the Ministry of Justice released an interim report including a recommendation for the restriction of the press freedom on the pretext that an independent organization …

Public Inauthenticity: a Crisis of Falling Expectations

By Jack Fuller
President, Tribune Publishing Co.

It is a rare pleasure to be here today. When I was editor of the Chicago Tribune, I learned that an editor is expected to speak with authority about pretty nearly everything.

But since I have moved over to the business side of the newspaper, or as my reporter friends like to call it, “the dark side,” I find that nobody expects me to think about much of anything any more-except maybe about money.

Occasionally, though, I still do sneak a non-monetary thought and lately I’ve been fretting about the quality of public …

Keynote address for “Access ’99″

By Paul McMasters
The Freedom Forum

Paul McMasters, First Amendment ombudsman for The Freedom Forum, delivered this address on March 18, 1999, at “Access ’99,” a conference sponsored by the Virginia Coalition for Open Government at Montpelier, the home of James Madison, in Orange County, Virginia.

I just hosted an all-day conference Tuesday on freedom-of-information issues at the federal level. As you probably know, there are many, many problems with access to government at the national level.

• Despite presidential orders and laws requiring the declassification of millions of documents, intelligence foot-dragging and congressional interference have greatly hampered the effort.
• Federal

…

The Clash of the Paradigms

By Dr. Deni Elliott
Practical Ethics Center
University of Montana

It doesn’t take a psychic to predict journalistic backlash. Take any scandal or any sensational event that dominates the news shows and news columns. The public will be riveted by the story. They will read the same rumors in three different newspapers and news magazines. They will surf the channels looking for one more re-telling of the same speculation.

Then, the handwringing and head-shaking over the state of journalism begins. The story after the story is how journalists screwed up. In something as complicated and on-going as the Clinton-Starr saga, …

1997 survey of ONO members

To: ONO Members and Friends
From: Elissa Papirno
Re: Results of ONO survey
Date: April 7, 1997

At long last, here are the results of the survey that was distributed to ONO members last December. The idea was to evaluate some of the new ways ombuddies are using to communicate with readers, from e-mail to reader forums. With all of us so pressed for time, the question was what’s the best, most valuable use of the limited resources we have. Twenty-eight people from five countries responded. Participants did not necessarily answer every question; so there are statistical gaps.

Here are …

Ethics and the media

By Richard P. Cunningham
Quill © 1995

Joann Byrd gave The Washington Post what reads like a B-plus in press ethics as she turned over The Post ombudsman job to Geneva Overholser, former prize-winning editor of The Des Moines Register.

Byrd went back to Washington, where she had been editor of the Everett Herald, to teach press ethics at the University of Washington and to pull together many years’ work on a model for ethical decision making in newsrooms.

When Bryd took The Post job three years ago, she set out eight values by which to judge the newspaper’s news …

Error is human; Refusal to admit error is journalism

This presentation was made in June 1994 at a symposium entitled “Press Regulation: How far has it come?” in Seoul, Korea. The symposium was presented by the International Communication Research Institute, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and the Citizens Coalition for Media Watch. The Munhwa Broadcasting Corp. and Korea Press Center were hosts. Among the participants were Joann Byrd, ombudsman for The Washington Post; Richard P. Cunningham, professor, New York University; Lynne Enders Glaser, ombudsman, The Fresno Bee; Arthur C. Nauman, ombudsman, The Sacramento Bee; and William Morgan, ombudsman, Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

By William Morgan
All rights reserved

I am …

Why did one news council fail and the other succeed?

This presentation was made in June 1994 at a symposium entitled “Press Regulation: How far has it come?” in Seoul, Korea. The symposium was presented by the International Communication Research Institute, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and the Citizens Coalition for Media Watch. The Munhwa Broadcasting Corp. and Korea Press Center were hosts. Among the participants were Joann Byrd, ombudsman for The Washington Post; Richard P. Cunningham, professor, New York University; Lynne Enders Glaser, ombudsman, The Fresno Bee; Arthur C. Nauman, ombudsman, The Sacramento Bee; and William Morgan, ombudsman, Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

By Richard P. Cunningham
All rights reserved

This …

What do readers want?

By Kate McKenna
The American Journalism Review © 1993

Each March, complaints are put on hold when members of the Organization of News Ombudsmen gather to ponder what readers really want.

Year after year, they come up with the same answer: Plenty.

Ombudsmen say readers want newsprint that won’t dirty their hands, funnier comics, better crossword puzzles and accurate television listings. Says Pat Riley of the Orange County Register: “If anything happens with the comics and the crossword puzzle, you should go on vacation.”

Readers also value fairness. “One bad headline can cost us several subscriptions — even if it …