The controversy over the origins and functions of ombudsmanship

By Takeshi Maezawa
Tokyo Keizai University

The purpose of this study-note is not to demonstrate an academic theory but to document the controversy over ombudsmanship. In particular, I would like to focus attention on the origins and functions of newspaper ombudsmen and also present my own view regarding this controversy. The first question discussed in the controversy is: Where did ombudsmanship originate in, North America or Japan? American ombudsmen have recognized recently that it originated, or at least invented, in Japan but I want to argue against it.

The second question derived from the first one is: Does the Japanese system of ombudsmanship…

We were wrong

By Linda Raymond
The Courier Journal © 1999

For 32 years, The Courier-Journal has taken pride in the belief that it appointed the first newspaper ombudsman and launched the international newspaper ombudsman movement.

We were wrong.

We didn’t know that the concept had already been operating for many years in Japan when, in 1967, C-J editor and publisher Barry Bingham Sr. established the post here and John Herchenroeder became the first to fill it.

Over the years since, Herch and his successors (I’m among them) have listened to and acted on thousands of calls from readers with concerns about the newspaper. We’ve also supported an…

The newspaper ombudsman: A personal memoir of the early days

By Alfred JaCoby

The first question for the new ombudsman back in the early days (the 1960s and 1970s) seemed to be universal:

Just what did the word mean and what was the job about?

The dictionary wasn’t much help. The general definition in a number or dictionaries big and small referred to a public official “assigned to investigate complaints against government.” That concept had originated in Sweden, whose socialism was called, in a celebrated book by journalist Marquis Childs, “the middle way.”

The enlightened Swedes, knowing that government and its bureaucracy was no respecter of freedom, had established this concept of a “watchdog”…

Philip M. Foisie’s memos to the management of The Washington Post

(The following information was provided to The Organization of News Ombudsmen for transfer to this web site by Geoffrey Foisie in December 1995. It relates to the early history of ombudsmanship and the significant role played by his late father, Philip M. Foisie, the first ombudsman at Stars and Stripes, former executive editor of the International Herald Tribune and former foreign editor of The Washington Post.)

November 10, 1969

TO: Ben Bradlee, Gene Patterson
FROM: Phil Foisie
RE: A proposal for an ombudsman for the Post

I suggest that the Post select, or cause to be selected, by some method credible to our readers, a panel representing a…

News Ombudsmanship: Its History and Rationale

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 Arthur C. Nauman
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