US: The loss of the ombudsman; The Courier-Journal, first paper to have a public editor, cuts position
Posted by Sarah Schewe on August 5, 2008 at 11:25 AM
Earlier this week, Pam Platt, now former public editor for The Courier-Journal, wrote her final column, announcing that the paper - the first in North America to have an ombudsman - will no longer have a public editor to act as a reader representative. Platt is now a member of the paper's editorial board.
"These are very difficult times... and we are having to make tough decisions," said Executive Editor Bennie Ivory. "The position has been a very valuable part of the newspaper, but I felt the need to move the resource to another area. I didn't think we should weaken the editorial voice of the newspaper."
Recently, there has been much discussion about the need, or lack there of, for the ombudsmen.
In addition to the Courier-Journal, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Orlando Sentinel, The Hartford Courant and The Palm Beach Post have all eliminated the position from their payrolls.
The New York Times, which first added an ombudsman in 2003, following the Jayson Blair scandal, when it was discovered that the New York Times reporter had fabricated and falsified dozens of stories, made waves in 2007 when the paper considered eliminating the ombudsman.
Daniel Okrent was revered during his tenure as the Times' first Public Editor, however, the paper's second PE, Byron Calame, proved less popular. Slate wrote, "Like many ombudsmen, Calame assumed the voice of a writer who thought the standing title of his column was 'What I Would Do If I Were Editor of This Newspaper.'"
According to the New York Observer in 2007, near the end of Calame's term, "Mr. Keller wrote in his e-mail that 'some of my colleagues believe the greater accessibility afforded by features like 'Talk to the Newsroom' has diminished the need for an autonomous ombudsman, or at least has opened the way for a somewhat different definition of the job.'"
The Times opted to keep the position, which is now filled by Clark Hoyt.
Platt writes her last column as, "an obituary for a position that has mattered to The Courier-Journal and its readers for 40 years, a position that has mattered to world news media for that long, too."
Source: Poynter
"These are very difficult times... and we are having to make tough decisions," said Executive Editor Bennie Ivory. "The position has been a very valuable part of the newspaper, but I felt the need to move the resource to another area. I didn't think we should weaken the editorial voice of the newspaper."
Recently, there has been much discussion about the need, or lack there of, for the ombudsmen.
In addition to the Courier-Journal, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Orlando Sentinel, The Hartford Courant and The Palm Beach Post have all eliminated the position from their payrolls.
The New York Times, which first added an ombudsman in 2003, following the Jayson Blair scandal, when it was discovered that the New York Times reporter had fabricated and falsified dozens of stories, made waves in 2007 when the paper considered eliminating the ombudsman.
Daniel Okrent was revered during his tenure as the Times' first Public Editor, however, the paper's second PE, Byron Calame, proved less popular. Slate wrote, "Like many ombudsmen, Calame assumed the voice of a writer who thought the standing title of his column was 'What I Would Do If I Were Editor of This Newspaper.'"
According to the New York Observer in 2007, near the end of Calame's term, "Mr. Keller wrote in his e-mail that 'some of my colleagues believe the greater accessibility afforded by features like 'Talk to the Newsroom' has diminished the need for an autonomous ombudsman, or at least has opened the way for a somewhat different definition of the job.'"
The Times opted to keep the position, which is now filled by Clark Hoyt.
Platt writes her last column as, "an obituary for a position that has mattered to The Courier-Journal and its readers for 40 years, a position that has mattered to world news media for that long, too."
Source: Poynter
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