Springtime in Paris was the time and place of this year’s convention of the international Organization of News Ombudsmen. I didn’t make the trip, but I read a report from the meeting that should sound familiar to readers of this column.
Results of a survey taken of the membership were delivered at the convention. Ombudsmen in the United States and 13 other countries had been asked to list the most frequent concerns expressed to them by the public.
The top five, as reported by Miriam Pepper, readers’ representative of The Kansas City Star:
- “Accuracy issues, including errors of fact, misspellings, poor grammar and missing context.
- “Perceived bias or slant in news stories. Readers complain of no separation of facts and opinions, political favoritism and sections of the community ignored or not fairly covered.
- “Page One story selection disagreements. Concerns about sensationalized headlines or story selections, headlines that don’t fit the story, taste issues and ‘what’s most significant’ disputes.LI>”Not enough good news or local news.
- “Privacy and ethics concerns.”
Pepper reported that following closely behind those leaders were concerns about graphic photos, rejection of letters to the editor, perceived bias in Middle East coverage, late delivery of newspapers, and papers with smudged ink or small type.
That was the sad news from the convention.
You can see why I found it unnecessary to attend. We simply don’t have those problems here, do we?
Pepper reported the ombudsmen didn’t paint a wholly dark portrait. She had this good news:
“There was much appreciation expressed for the well-educated readers and listeners who reveal expertise in an amazing array of subjects and genuinely want to improve their own newspapers.”
* * *
That last paragraph describes numerous Times-Dispatch readers, including Jonathan B. Macdonald of western Henrico County. He wrote in late May to point out that the Weather page on two successive days reported the James River level at Westham was a half-foot – wading level! The level had been running about 9 feet.
The half-foot report was “obviously wrong – and could be dangerous,” he wrote.
I wrote back that the data for the page is compiled by an out-of-state service and transmitted here over the Internet, but “the page is checked daily by a copy editor and those mistakes should have been caught.”
Eight days later he wrote again. This time he discovered that the “Metro area rainfall” totals last Monday duplicated the totals on the Weather page last Sunday. The weather service had failed to change the numbers.
In his earlier letter, Macdonald wrote that the T-D is an “outstanding newspaper” but “I am getting disgusted by numerous ‘typos,’ if that is the correct term.”
Such errors, he noted, “put the credibility of all of the weather [report] and the entire newspaper in doubt.”
That wasn’t good news.
* * *
Then there was the case of the bogus $10 bill.
Bill Menting of Blackstone was the first of a half-dozen readers who called or wrote wanting to help the T-D see more clearly.
On Monday, June 4, the T-D published an Associated Press article on The Nation page about the federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s practice of replacing damaged currency.
Someone at the T-D should have looked more closely at the photo illustrating the article. The picture showed Lorraine Robinson, a manager at the bureau, holding up to the camera what the caption called “a $10 bill that was damaged by water.”
“There are just a few problems with the bill,” Menting said in a phone call. The portrait on the bill was that of Andrew Jackson instead of Alexander Hamilton. Also, the figure was facing to the right instead of to the left.
Furthermore, he read this line printed in capital letters across the top of the bill: MOTION PICTURE USE ONLY.
Before calling me, Menting said he called the AP in New York and was dismissed by someone in the photography department who asserted, “That’s money the lady is replacing.”
Not so, said Robinson, the woman in the photo, when I called her at the bureau. The photographer, she said, “wasn’t supposed to use that picture. He took several pictures, and I held up a real ten that had been burned. He used the wrong picture.”
Robinson said the bureau does get bogus bills, like the motion picture ten-spot, but, sorry folks, there’s no payoff for play money.
She said she had received one other call about the picture, from the AP. On June 3, the AP moved a photo elimination advisory on the wire saying the picture shouldn’t be used, that the bill pictured “is actually a motion picture prop.”
Apparently the advisory went unnoticed here, and the T-D published the photo the next day. On Wednesday, the newspaper published a “Clarification” in which it said the AP had “inadvertently photographed a fake mutilated $10 bill.”
* * *
Back to the need for more good news, a point from the ombudsman survey. Charles Pool of Richmond e-mailed me nearly two months ago that he had discovered the ultimate good news story in an article about errors in the recent Census Bureau count.
I’ve saved and savored his compliment. He wrote:
“I was thrilled to read in your Good Friday edition of The Times-Dispatch that ‘There were no reported cases sin Virginia.’
“That is the best news that I’ve read yet! Keep the Good News coming!”
Even one of those evil typos can make readers happy.
