Brisbane will be new public editor at New York Times

The New York Times today named its next public editor, Arthur S. Brisbane, a journalist and news executive with 34 years experience, including as publisher and editor of The Kansas City Star and as reporter and editor at The Washington Post.

Brisbane is the fourth public editor appointed by The Times.

Read the announcement at nytimes.com

Job was like “a shock absorber”

Media Matters’ Joe Strupp interviews departing New York Times Ombudsman Clark Hoyt at the end of his three-year run in the post. He says the experience has been positive, although sometimes making him feel like “a shock absorber.”

“I was expecting it to be sort of a shock absorber job between the newsroom and individual…s who were commenting about things – that is the way it has turned out to be,” Hoyt said.

Read Strupp’s entire interview

Being the complaint department at The New York Times

When veteran journalist Daniel Okrent joined the New York Times as the newspaper’s first public editor in 2003, he entered a newsroom reeling in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal and found himself critiquing the work of some of the best reporters in the country—many of whom were unused to having their work questioned.  As a result, he says staffers “were very, very dubious, and in some cases openly hostile” toward him. ”

Read the entire Big Think article

Ombudsman can help prevent cheaters, Kurtz says

In Howard Kurtz’s Washington Post review of “My Times in Black and White” by former New York Times managing editor Gerald Boyd, Kurtz acknowledges that an ombudsman in the newsroom helps change the kind of atmosphere in which cheating  journalists like Jayson Blair can thrive.

“The Times has changed that atmosphere under Bill Keller’s editorship, and the existence of a public editor — an outgrowth of the Blair scandal — provides an important safety valve,” Kurtz writes.

See Howard Kurtz’s complete column

Salt Lake Tribune eliminates reader advocate post

The Salt Lake Tribune in Salt Lake City, Utah, has eliminated the position of reader advocate. Connie Coyne, who has held the position for the past seven years, will be leaving the paper  as of March 26.

Read the post on Romanesko’s blog.

Read report in The Salt Lake Tribune.

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.

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 cold ash, but…

Memorials scheduled for former Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell

Sourcing of Article Awkward for Paper

Facing criticism for publishing the work of a start-up news organization, The Washington Post reported Tuesday that it should have disclosed more about the group’s financier and his connections, and the paper’s ombudsman said he was looking into the relationship.

The start-up, The Fiscal Times, covers economic issues, with a particular focus on the federal budget, the growing deficit and efforts to rein in health care and Social Security spending. Its financing was provided by Peter G. Peterson, the billionaire investment banker who advocates deficit reduction and restrictions on entitlement programs.

On Dec. 31, The Post published the first news article produced by…

Station ombudsman builds viewer trust

Giacobbe is the ombudsman at the Media General station, charged with making sure that WJAR’s reporting follows the rules of fairness, accuracy and balance. He may be the only station ombudsman in America, but at a time when local TV is increasingly looking to build viewer trust, some believe the role has never been more essential. “The ombudsman gives…