{"id":316,"date":"2011-05-30T14:30:39","date_gmt":"2011-05-30T21:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/seattlejournalismcommons\/?p=316"},"modified":"2011-05-30T14:30:39","modified_gmt":"2011-05-30T21:30:39","slug":"journalism-needs-more-ombudsmen-and-news-councils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/seattlejournalismcommons\/2011\/05\/30\/journalism-needs-more-ombudsmen-and-news-councils\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalism Needs More Ombudsmen AND News Councils"},"content":{"rendered":"

via John Hamer of the Washington News Council<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Craig Silverman gives keynote speech to #ONO2011 meeting in Montreal. John Hamer of WNC (bald spot on left) listens along with Michael Getler, ombudsman of PBS (bald head on right).<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important that we have accountability mechanisms in journalism. When it comes to our own accountability, most news organizations are doing a pretty poor job, to be blunt.\u201d<\/h3>\n

— Craig Silverman<\/a>, in keynote speech to Organization of News Ombudsmen<\/a> (ONO) annual convention, Montreal<\/h4>\n

Craig Silverman, a regular columnist for Columbia Journalism Review and The Toronto Star, is also author of \u201cRegret the Error \u2013 How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech.<\/a>\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n

In his talk to the world\u2019s ombudsmen last week, Silverman cited several studies which found that 40 to 60 percent of news stories contained some kind of error! A comprehensive survey of U.S. newspapers found the highest error rate on record<\/a>.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been telling people for literally hundreds of years that when we make a mistake we correct it,\u201d Silverman said. But the U.S. study found a correction rate of only about 2 percent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is pretty outrageous,\u201d Silverman said. \u201cIf we\u2019re only correcting 2 percent of errors, we\u2019re not meeting our own standards. It represents a serious failure on the part of news organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReporters will be inclined to not want to run a correction, because they\u2019ve been trained that that\u2019s a bad thing,\u201d Silverman said. \u201cThey need to change that attitude.\u201d He\u2019s right on both counts.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, errors are \u201cnow forever,\u201d because they are cached online, and spread worldwide by Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc., Silverman noted. Dealing with complaints about errors is one of the jobs of news ombudsmen \u2013 and also of news or press councils.<\/p>\n

I joined the Organization of News Ombudsmen as an associate member last year, partly because I love the acronym \u2013 ONO! \u2013 but also because the Washington News Council is a kind of \u201coutside ombudsman\u201d for news media in this state.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there are no full-time ombudsmen at any news organizations in our state anymore. That\u2019s too bad. Over the years when I was at The Seattle Times, they had four different ombudsmen. A couple of them were pretty good. I edited their columns, which ran on the editorial pages.<\/p>\n

Ombudsmen hear and respond to complaints from readers, viewers or listeners about news stories that are arguably inaccurate, unfair, imbalanced and\/or unethical. That\u2019s also what news or press councils do \u2013 and what we have done for the past 13 years.<\/p>\n

Some say ombudsmen \u2013 since they are employed by the news outlets, have offices in or near the newsrooms, and generally know the editors, reporters, and producers \u2013 can deal with complaints more effectively. Of course, since their salaries are paid by those they are hired to critique, some also may question their level of independence. But most try to be fair, thorough and constructively critical. Many do criticize their own newspapers, broadcast stations, and\/or websites strongly \u2013 and they\u2019re often not too popular in newsrooms.<\/p>\n

Also, the number of ombudsmen around the world has declined over the years \u2013 especially in the United States. ONO now has about 60 members worldwide, with only 20 in the U.S. Many media organizations say they simply can\u2019t afford the position anymore, when they don\u2019t even have enough reporters to cover their local communities.<\/p>\n

Ombudsmen\u2019s jobs have been eliminated at many American newspapers in recent decades \u2013 including at The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. At the same time, some of the best American newspapers \u2013 The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today \u2013 have created or enhanced the position, although some are called \u201cpublic editors\u201d or \u201creader representatives.\u201d There are also experienced ombudsmen at most major broadcast news outlets worldwide. In this country, only PBS, NPR and now ESPN have ombudsmen.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Dvorkin, former NPR ombudsman who now is executive director of ONO, told his colleagues in Montreal: \u201cThe ombudsman\u2019s job is like being on the front lines of the First Amendment\u2026We\u2019re in between the public and the editors. We point out the warts and flaws. The [news] organization doesn\u2019t want to hear it. We\u2019re speaking truth to power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacob Mollerup, the current president of ONO whose title is \u201cListeners and Viewers Editor\u201d at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in Copenhagen, wryly described the job as \u201ca lonely hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was only half joking. ONO members often say they have \u201cthe loneliest job in the newsroom.\u201d Most journalists don\u2019t like to hear complaints about their work and are reluctant to make corrections or explain their performance in public \u2013 which is what they always demand of those they cover. Double standard? Unquestionably.<\/p>\n

The annual ONO conference is an opportunity for attendees to come together, swap stories, compare tactics, and commiserate with others who are in the same boat. Three days of panels, speakers and \u201cshop talk\u201d \u2013 with a few dinners and receptions thrown in \u2013 clearly have a therapeutic effect.<\/p>\n

A draft business plan, sent out in advance and discussed on the final day of the gathering, notes that ONO\u2019s first goal should be as a \u201cmeeting place and discussion forum.\u201d The Montreal conference, for the first time, was simultaneously translated into English, French and Spanish, which was a great help to all.<\/p>\n

Another goal is outreach \u2013 promoting ombudsmanship in cooperation with partners around the world. That includes to \u201cbe a serious partner in media projects where different organizations join forces in order to promote media accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

A third is to expand the organization: \u201cONO should welcome members of independent press councils as associates.\u201d I was invited to speak on a panel at their convention last year at Oxford University on how ombudsmen and press councils can work more closely together. And Mollerup recently attended the Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe<\/a> (AIPCE) conference.<\/p>\n

A final goal is to keep an open mind for new projects and ways of promoting media accountability \u2013 including in cyberspace. That\u2019s precisely what the WNC has been doing for the last few years, and I shared some of our ideas with ONO members:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Report an Error<\/strong>. Silverman and Scott Rosenberg of MediaBugs<\/a> have developed a new online \u201cReport an Error\u201d system now being used by about 100 news sites and blogs. The WNC has been working with them and we now have the \u201cReport an Error\u201d widget on this site. We invite readers to report errors in Pacific Northwest media as we test this intriguing new system. <\/em><\/li>\n
  2. NewsTrust.net<\/strong><\/a>. We also invite them to nominate and review state and regional stories on our NewsTrust.net widget. You must register to become a reviewer and it\u2019s a great tool, especially to praise high-quality stories.<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. Online community<\/strong><\/a>. People may join our online community and begin participating in discussions of various topics. Our groups have grown steadily.<\/em><\/li>\n
  4. Online Media Guide<\/strong><\/a>. We\u2019re also developing a new Online Media Guide (OMG) for Washington news and information sources, which will be a valuable resource for journalists, public-affairs professionals, politicians, academics, etc.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    One of the most interesting speakers in Montreal was Guy Amyot, executive secretary of the Press Council of Quebec<\/a>. His council, unlike some others in Canada and elsewhere, hears complaints about print, broadcast and online news media, not just newspapers.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt is the liberty of the press to be independent from any power structure, but because of this freedom they have to be accountable,\u201d Amyot said. \u201cThe media are not obliged to name ombudsmen and are also not obliged to join press councils.\u201d But, he strongly suggested, they should do both. He\u2019s absolutely right.<\/p>\n

    In order to maintain public trust and credibility, all those practicing journalism need to be more transparent, accountable and open<\/a>. Ombudsmen and news councils can clearly help \u2013 if more journalists would only listen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    via John Hamer of the Washington News Council \u201cIt\u2019s really important that we have accountability mechanisms in journalism. When it comes to our own accountability, most news organizations are doing a pretty poor job, to be blunt.\u201d — Craig Silverman, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[37,75,102,131,184],"class_list":["post-316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events-2","tag-craig-silverman","tag-john-hamer","tag-mediabugs","tag-organization-of-news-ombudsmen","tag-washington-news-council"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/seattlejournalismcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/seattlejournalismcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/seattlejournalismcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/seattlejournalismcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/seattlejournalismcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/seattlejournalismcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/seattlejournalismcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/seattlejournalismcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/seattlejournalismcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}