This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Pritchard, S. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Holding ourselves accountable

U.S. papers dispensing with their ombudsmen are misguided, it is argued. Transparency is vital to rebuild public trust

The ombudsman of The Observer newspaper notes that editors of American newspapers are shedding staff at an alarming rate as the financial crisis translates into a sharp downturn in advertising and readerships melt away and that among the casualties are 12 news ombudsmen: men and women who work within newsrooms, dealing with complaints, publishing corrections and writing columns and internal memos on their papers’ journalism. He believes that this short-term thinking is wrong and those in the UK who have yet to appoint an ombudsman need to ask themselves if they can afford to be without one: "It’s all about transparency. From transparency flows trust. Show your readers that you care about accuracy, about fairness, about getting the story right and you gain their trust. If they trust you they will buy you."

British Journalism Review, Vol. 19, No. 4, 63-67 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0956474808100867


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?