A Word From The Board
Dear colleagues,
This last newsletter before Christmas first brings good cheer – El País has confirmed its generous offer to host the ONO conference for 2025. Although the final dates are yet to be fixed it will be in the week beginning Monday, May 5. We look at some of the possible themes.
Elsewhere in the newsletter we review the options for ONO following a board meeting that discussed the case for and against leaving X/Twitter and what kind of presence – if any – ONO should have on social media. We also explore the controversy over journalists’ coverage of the Maccabi Tel Aviv/ Ajax match in Amsterdam, which brought many complaints to ombuds email queues. And we introduce a new member to see out the year.
Margo Smit, president
Jack Nagler, vice-president
Elisabeth Ribbans, treasurer
Chris Elliott, executive director
Madrid: ONO 2025
El País is next year celebrating the 40th anniversary of establishing an ombuds at the paper. As part of those celebrations, it has invited ONO to hold its annual conference in Madrid in the week beginning May 5. Soleded Alcaide, the current ombuds, is leading the project.
Soledad has already identified the – Caixaforum – in the centre of Madrid, just opposite to the Prado Museum, as being a venue for one day of the conference with the other day at the paper’s headquarters.
Among the possible sessions will be one looking at journalists in exile, with a particular focus on the plight of journalists and their ombuds colleagues from South America, especially those who have been expelled from their countries for political or security reasons and now live in Madrid.
The board is also looking at the latest developments in AI and how it affects our members for another session. What would you like to see debated at next year’s conference? Please email Soledad defensora@elpais.es and cc newsombudsmenorg@gmail.com.
An email with precise dates and a list of possible hotels will follow soon.
X/Twitter: if not there, where?
The debate among members as to whether ONO should leave X/Twitter has been running for a couple of months through emails and two well attended and lively discussions, the first at the Shoptalk on November 12, with more than 30 colleagues, and the second at the board meeting of November 19. Many members who have expressed a view feel that we should go but there are also some contrary views.
Steve Springer said in the run up to the Shoptalk that:
“We’re a unique group in journalism, and our collective voice should be heard.”
Sandra Martin wrote:
” The platform needs ONO to counter all of the disinformation about ‘the mainstream media’ that gets posted on X”.
The alternative view was put most strongly by Sami Koivisto, who gave a presentation at the Shoptalk about the harassment of journalists. He wrote in an earlier email:
“I work as a Senior Advisor of Harassment Prevention for the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle and have experienced several times how the ethics of X/Twitter have changed. I’m afraid I believe X is today the most significant platform for harassment of journalists in the World. I have supported many journalists from different companies who have been harassed on X and have myself been seriously bullied and targeted by politicians on X and find X to be the worst possible place for serious discussion about media ethics. The algorithms of X support fights, they do not support real dialogue.”
The discussion at the board took in the various views expressed by members. At the end of that discussion the majority of board members felt that on balance it was right to leave the platform but that we needed to be on social media and the best place would be LinkedIn with regular updates.
John Daniszewski said we should use LinkedIn – we are already on the platform – to support and promote the work of ONO as LinkedIn is a place for professionals interested in serious ideas.
Margo said that we are not an advocates group but we could use social media to demonstrate value to members and promote recruitment to ONO through showing our work. It was agreed that we should think about asking a member of the board or possibly an ordinary member to become the social media editor and focus on only one platform. Does ONO need its own set of social media guidelines? The members are highly experienced, each will almost certainly have their own social media ‘guard rails’. However, if members feel there is a golden rule that should be in place for those posting on behalf of ONO please let me know. In addition, anyone interested in taking on the responsibility of posting regularly for ONO on its LinkedIn site please step forward.
New member: Lindsey Christ
Lindsey Christ is Head of News Standards and Practices, Spectrum News.
She is responsible for editorial and ethical oversight for Spectrum News’ 30+ 24/7 local news stations, plus a national news network, across multiple platforms, including television, streaming, digital, audio, and social. Lindsey also chairs the News Standards Committee, comprised of editorial leaders across the country. She is a 2024-25 member of the RTDNA Ethics Committee.
Christ (rhymes with wrist) has previously held several leadership roles at Spectrum News, including network-wide strategy and as managing director of the digital teams across the northeast. For nearly a decade, she was Spectrum News NY1’s education reporter.
Lindsey has won numerous awards for her journalism, including a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, the top prize for overall reporting from the NY Associated Press Broadcasters Association and multiple national Education Writers Association awards. She has been nominated for three Emmy Awards, including one for her reporting throughout 2018.
Journalism, soccer and the war in Gaza
The rank and pervasive bitterness of the continuing conflict in the Middle East continues to make it one of the most difficult stories facing ONO colleagues for more than a year, with complaints coming from both sides. A soccer match provoked a fresh round of criticism of the media following the Maccabi Tel Aviv/ Ajax match in Amsterdam.
And not just in Amsterdam.
At the board many colleagues around the table said they had received criticism from their audience about the coverage of the violence between the Maccabi fans and Amsterdam locals. On the night of the match on November 7 politicians and journalists focused on the ‘hit and run’ tactics by rioters against sections of the 1,000 or so Maccabi fans walking back into the centre of Amsterdam. Politicians condemned the rioters as antisemitic and Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke of a “pogrom” against Maccabi fans and Israeli citizens, according to the BBC. Within 24 hours reports emerged of violence before the match, involving allegations about the behaviour of the Maccabi fans. The BBC reported: “Police chief Peter Holla confirmed there had been incidents “on both sides”. Israeli supporters had removed a Palestinian flag from a wall and set it alight and attacked a taxi, although there had been no further trouble until the following night, he said.”
Here is an English version of a letter that includes a detailed timeline of events sent by the Mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema to the Amsterdam City Council, which was produced with Amsterdam’s public prosecutor and police.
Here are some reports by ombuds and others looking at the violence and the coverage of the violence.
Free Press Unlimited
The role of the media during the riots: facts vs frames
NRC
Opinie | Het wangedrag van de Maccabi-fans kwam pas laat in het volle licht te staan –
(Content behind a paywall. A PDF version is on the ONO website)
The Guardian
Kneejerk response, then overcorrection: what the aftermath of the Amsterdam violence should teach us
The Athletic
Explained: What happened with Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam and how will football react?
BBC
Amsterdam mayor condemns ‘hit and run’ attacks on Israeli football supporters
We must not turn blind eye to antisemitism, says Dutch king after attacks on Israeli football fans
The Spectator
BBC under fire over Amsterdam attack coverage
Here are other articles that caught the editorial director’s eye. Thanks to Margo Smit, Steve Springer, Ignaz Staub, Pierre Champoux and Jeff Brown for their contributions. There is a lot of blue sky thinking… If you spot something that you think may be interesting to members please email ONO with the link.
Margo Smit is the ombuds for journalistic productions at NPO, the Dutch public broadcasting system, as well as the ONO President. Here is her fifth article in a series of retrospective articles looking at the conflict in the Middle East.
Looking back at the conflict in the Middle East. 5. A question of weighing, justification of word choice
Radio-Canada
A disturbing historical reminder (in French)
CBC
Canadian news organizations, including CBC, sue ChatGPT creator | CBC News
Toronto Star
In a post-Trump world, the looming death of mainstream media is greatly exaggerated
NBC News
X sees largest user exodus since Elon Musk takeover
American Press Institute
Publishers are leaving X for bluer skies
Knight First Amendment Institute
A Note About the Knight Institute, X, and Bluesky
The Fix
Are there bluer skies to leave for?
Axios
Exclusive: Threads adds 35M new sign-ups this month
The New York Times
Major Canadian News Outlets Sue OpenAI in New Copyright Case
NiemanLab
I’m a journalist and I’m changing the way I read news. This is how.
Global Investigative Journalism Network
Resilience, Courage, Defiance: African Investigative Journalism Is Meeting the Moment
Columbia Journalism Review
Hanging off the Line
Journalists Are Leaving X for Bluesky. Will They Stay There?
The Journalist’s Resource
Economists studied racial discrimination in LinkedIn job networking. Here’s what they found.
The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
What do people want? Views on platforms and the digital public sphere in eight countries
Together, let’s make your newsletter even better!
If you want to share your own experiences or have reports all ONO members should know about, find us at newsombudsmenorg@gmail.com and we will include it in ONO’s next newsletter.