When the phone is answered in the ombudsman’s office of The Times-Dispatch, invariably the caller will say, “I’m not certain you’re the one to speak to…”
I’m the one.
This month marks the start of the third year of the ombudsman position on The Times-Dispatch. A few Richmond-area residents even have learned how to pronounce the name (AUM’-budz-man). Some have been surprised to discover such a position exists. Not all understand the job description.
That job description appears on Page A2 daily under the “Reader Services” heading: “The news ombudsman investigates complaints of unfairness, inaccuracy or imbalance in news and photo coverage.”
T-D local columnist Steve Clark calls “ombudsman” a “50-cent word for complaint department.” Many readers don’t read the job description beyond the word “complaint.”
Consider the woman who phoned a few weeks ago. She had been arrested, handcuffed and transported roughly, she felt. A doctor who examined her bruises told her she might have a complaint against the police, she said. So she called me. “The paper says you take complaints,” she said.
I explained that I listen to complaints only about news coverage in The Times-Dispatch.
Another caller said he had already talked with Traffic Engineering and the city police and now he needed the ombudsman. He even pronounced it correctly. Why did he need the ombudsman? To keep his neighbors from parking in front of his garage and blocking his driveway.
My favorite call came from a man in the West End. He complained he had lost $1.50 in a newspaper coin rack in front of a grocery on West Broad Street. Would we send him a refund?
This seemed reasonable, and his call was about to be transferred to the Circulation Department. But, out of curiosity, did he lose the six quarters trying to buy the daily or the Sunday Times-Dispatch? Why no, he was trying to buy The New York Times, he said.
Readers still are discovering there is someone to call or write at The Times-Dispatch to pay heed to their annoyances. Nationally, the role of ombudsman is becoming more well known, but only 36 newspapers in the United States have ombudsmen.
The job title varies. The Palm Beach Post calls its ombudsman the “listening post editor.” Some others are known as “public editor,” “reader representative” or “reader advocate.” Whatever their title, all belong to the international Organization of News Ombudsman, with the catchy acronym of “ONO!”
To me, the title of Mario Cardinal in Montreal has a ring of class to it: “L’Ombudsman.”
Seven Canadian media, print and broadcast, have ombudsmen. Ombudsmen also are employed by newspapers in England (4), Brazil (3), Spain (2), Italy, Israel, South Africa, Paraguay, Colombia, Japan and Korea. Last year, the newspaper Izvestiya in Moscow had an ombudsman, but, ominously, he hasn’t been heard from in months and mail to him from the United States has been returned.
The word “ombudsman” comes from Scandinavia. It loosely translates to “go-between.” At The Times-Dispatch, I serve as the go-between the readers and the newspaper staff. I will convey to the news staff the concerns of the readers and seek a remedy. I often use my Sunday column not only to allow readers to share those concerns but also to explain how and why the newspaper operates as it does.
Most readers who call are gracious and serious. They are troubled by a color photograph of a body; they demand that news articles be free of opinion; they wonder why one side of an issue gets the most attention. Often they are ahead of editors in judging the news. While early Whitewater stories were being played inside Section A, readers asked why this wasn’t Page 1 news.
Grammatical errors, a frequent sin, create reader anguish. Letters arrive pointing out miscues, such as the one about the delinquents who were caught “reeking havoc.” Or the politician who held a rally at a “neutral sight.” A few weeks ago, a new Virginia county was christened: “Isle of White.”
While I admit to being a stickler for proper grammar, I take delight in passing along the advice of Pulitzer Prize-winning author James A. Michener on the usage of “who” or “whom”:
“Whatever you write down,” he said, “change it.”
While readers have been learning about ombudsmanship, I also have been learning from readers. After seeing the newspaper through the eyes of a news reporter or editor for 44 years, I have seen the newspaper through the eyes of the readers for the last two years. That’s been an education.
Readers can give one an education in humbleness, too. A woman phoned to say she had just heard The Times-Dispatch had an ombudsman! She also had heard I write a column, but she had never seen it.
“Yes,” I said proudly. “My column runs in the Commentary section on Sunday, usually at the bottom of Page F2.”
“Oh, that explains why I haven’t seen it,” she said. “I always cut out Dave Barry at the bottom of Page 1 and send his column to my son.”
