As you read this column, your friendly neighborhood Listening Post editor expects to be returning from the annual meeting in Chicago of the international Organization of News Ombudsmen. That makes this a good time for a reprise of what the Listening Post is all about.
Unless you have been reading one of the few newspapers that has one (or heard my stock speech on this), ombudsman is likely to sound foreign – which it is. Scandinavian in origin, it means “intermediary” in English. The word is gender-neutral, by the way; there are no “ombudspersons” among my female and male counterparts.
Newspaper ombudsmen address comments from readers on matters of accuracy, fairness and balance in articles, headlines and overall presentation. In this forum, I am authorized to make public readers’ criticism and my own, and I provide answers from the staff members who produce The Palm Beach Post. The idea is to address readers’ complaints and questions about the news and feature articles and, along the way, explain how the newspaper works.
That dialogue is part of the paper’s relationship with and commitment to its readers, who can reach my desk at the Listening Post number listed each day on Page 2A – it’s 820-4702 – or fax or write the addresses found on the letters page, or e-mail from the Palm Beach Interactive Web site(http://www.GoPbi.com), as well as e-mail directly to the address listed at the end of each column.
To my mind, this Listening Post column, which normally appears here each Thursday, is primarily a readers’ forum in which the crucial elements are reader concern and staff response. I get to express my opinion, but even more important to me is to provide the needed background enabling you to form your own.
News ombudsmen should not be confused with management. We function in an advisory, not a disciplinary or policy-setting, capacity. Any editorial material that causes readers to complain is within an ombudsman’s jurisdiction, however, and column subjects may range from questions of privacy to stereotyping to bias.
Each newspaper defines the job differently. Some ombudsmen supervise the preparation of corrections. (I don’t. At The Post, individual departments handle them.) Others write internal newsletters about readers’ views and complaints. I write editorials. Most of us gripe-catchers write weekly columns dealing with complaints of broad general interest or discussing the grievance of a particular reader.
Like me, most are a part of their paper’s staff. Some are on fixed-term or renewable contracts that cannot be canceled. Though that enhances public perception of the ombudsman’s independence, readers can thank The Post’s management for mine.
Our titles also vary. Aside from just plain ombudsman, some papers call theirs the readers’ representative, reader advocate, public editor, public contact editor – or in my case, Listening Post editor. Others have an assistant managing editor or an assistant to a senior editor act as ombudsman.
But public self-scrutiny for newspapers is the exception. For example, the Organization of News Ombudsmen to which I belong has just 55 regular and 23 associate members serving daily newspaper readers throughout the world. And that is a record high. There are 1,456 daily newspapers in the United States alone.
By definition, the ombudsman is in the middle. So the annual ONO (as in, “Oh No!”) meeting is an opportunity for us abused servants to compare notes, commiserate and hear from speakers who might enable us to do a better job of helping make our newspapers more accurate, more accessible and more accountable to readers. Look for me to share more from the meeting of the sacrificial lambs.
C.B. Hanif is an editorial writer for The Palm Beach Post. Items for Listening Post may be sent to lp@pbpost.com
