Budding relationships
By Geneva Overholser Posted Apr 1 2004
Illustration by Zac Crockett
The recent New York Times appointment of a public editor in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal has brought new visibility to the role of ombudsmen in American journalism. Until now, The Times — like most American newspapers — had said it had no need for someone other than its own editors and reporters to listen to the public and be sure that questions and criticisms were raised internally and dealt with in the newspaper. Meanwhile, the topic is also a lively one internationally. Numbers of papers with ombudsmen are increasing and so is the belief that the position is both effective and essential.
The New York Times' move represents a dramatic turnaround at a paper long known for opposing ombudsmanship. What it does not represent — so far, anyway — is an advance in the number of U.S. newspapers with ombudsmen. Out of 1,400 daily newspapers across the country, only 30 to 40 of them have an ombudsman positions. As of late, these numbers have been decreasing; while internationally, these numbers have been going up.
“While we saw some setbacks in the United States, as some news institutions had to give up hiring ombuds — mainly based on economic arguments — Europe has been on the forefront in the expansion,” says Yavuz Baydar, the Turkish news ombudsman now serving as president of the Organization of News Ombudsmen (ONO).
The ONO lists some 30 international members, including recent additions from Japan, Israel, the Netherlands and Spain. Some call themselves reader representatives, some readers' editors and some public editors. They perform a common list of services, designed to give their audience confidence that the media are listening to them and to ensure that journalists hear what the public thinks. Most communicate with readers daily, research the questions they raise and pass them along to staffers. Most write regular columns, often on ethical issues. Some do additional outreach.
Ilse Wetzel, readers' editor of Eindhovens Dagblad in the Netherlands, organizes community meetings, sets up political debates and joins colleagues in week-long “newspaper-truck visits” throughout her region. “We like to see the newspaper as an independent platform for discussion in which we give our readers the opportunity to get involved in local matters,” she says.
Some use their columns to raise their own concerns, along with those submitted by readers. Don Sellar of the Toronto Star holds Canada's first (1972) and now only newspaper ombudsmanship. During the Jayson Blair scandal, Sellar wrote a mock memo to the publisher cautioning against pushing young staffers too hard. The publisher wrote back — all for the readers' benefit.
The presence of ombudsmen can make a real difference, says Renaud Gilbert of Societe Radio-Canada: “It used to be easy to ignore the criticisms of listeners or viewers,” he says. With an ombudsman aboard, he adds, journalists hear public complaints and pay closer attention to ethical codes, and there are more on-air corrections. In Gilbert's judgment, had the British Broadcasting Corporations (BBC) had an ombudsman, it would have avoided much of the difficulty it encountered over reporting about intelligence leading up to the war in Iraq. Questions might have been raised earlier and steps might have been taken internally to address issues that later came so dramatically to light.
Gilbert's English-speaking counterpart at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, David Bazay, says the BBC approached him recently to inquire about how his office works. Certainly establishment of one ombudsmanship can lead to others. Bazay says: “Since Canada's public broadcaster appointed an ombudsman in 1989, public broadcasters in France, the United States and Australia have followed suit.”
National Public Radio (NPR) ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin says that the BBC came to him to talk about NPR's ombudsmanship, but concluded the model was untenable. Dvorkin recalls the BBC's representative saying that the Board of Governors would never allow someone to criticize them because it would jeopardize their power and influence.
A stark contrast with that sentiment can be seen with the Guardian, also in the United Kingdom. Ian Mayes, the Guardian's readers' editor, had the rare privilege of reporting recently on a “social, ethical and environmental audit” that divulged information that media companies traditionally hold close, such as discontent among staffers over career development and accounts of the company's environmental practices.
The reach and effectiveness of ombudsmen depends in the end on how supportive their superiors are. According to Baydar, the Guardian ombudsman is “backed ferociously,” while “in the worst cases, lack of publisher support may lead to ombudsmen turning into a kind of 'newspaper advocate,' “ performing more public relations than public service. Interestingly, the top brass tend to be bigger backers than are mid-level staffers, who may see ombudsmen as scolds and conveyors of other's complaints. As Thom Meens, ombudsman of the Dutch center-left newspaper de Volkskrant says, “Our senior editor … the boss, is the only one in the staff who thinks the ombudsman is a blessing for the newspaper. Most of the editors think I am a pain in the ass.”
Effectiveness also depends on tradition. Japan is one of the originators of the media-accountability concept, says Takesi Maezawa, professor of mass communication at Tokyo Keiza University. The ONO Web site (www.newsombudsman.org) cites Tokyo's Asahi Shimbun's establishment in 1922 as “a committee … to receive and investigate reader complaints.” About half of Japan's newspapers now have internal content-evaluation committees, responsible for spotting errors and educating reporters on ethics. But Maezawa writes that the committees differ from ombudsmen “in their lack of openness towards readers and their lack of independence from their superiors.”
Although media accountability is on the increase in some parts of the world, other regions still lack the notion entirely — including the Arab world and Africa, says Baydar. “I have been in touch with some prominent Arab journalists and TV editors, and propagated the idea, but the usual answer I get is, 'We have much more serious matters here, such as freedom of disseminating all news,' “ Baydar says.
But media accountability is seen by some as critical, both for the development of a free press and for guaranteeing its continuation against increasing economic and political pressures. The French journalism scholar Claude-Jean Bertrand argues, in his book Media Ethics and Accountability Systems, that the solution to growing market and state regulation is self-regulation by journalists.
The journalists already at work in this effort tend toward a certain profile, most of them senior members of their staffs. Take Janne Andersson, viewers' ombudsman for TV4, Sweden's biggest commercial television channel. He's 60 years old and was previously assistant news director, head of morning programming and local programs, and vice president of a local station.
Still, younger ombudsmen are emerging. Meens of the de Volkskrant newspaper says: “We had three ombudsmen who were at the end of their career. I am in my mid-40s. I wanted the job, and my senior editor wanted a younger journalist to do the job.”
Young or old, ombudsmen tend to agree on certain essential traits, including an understanding of all aspects of the business, a lot of patience – and a sense of humor. Kathy Norton, public editor at the New York Journal, likely speaks for the entire international ombudsman cohort when she lists her ultimate requirement: “A thick door to your office — good to block out your occasional screams of frustration.”