FINAL CALL
ONO CONFERENCE
May 31st to June 3rd
The ONO Board and the organising committee is putting the final touches to the program for our London Conference, and finalising catering and planning details.
I am delighted to report that we have 35 confirmed registrations for the conference, so it is shaping up as an excellent opportunity to meet your colleagues from around the world and hear from some great invited speakers on a range of topics.
I suspect that the final attendance will be even higher, as I have received over a dozen messages from people who are planning to attend but have not yet registered. To assist us in finalising arrangements, can I ask all members who are planning to attend, but have not yet registered to do so by FRIDAY MAY 12TH.
If you are planning to come but unable to register by that date for any reason, please email Alan Sunderland at newsombudsmenorg@gmail.com and let us know.
To assist (and just in case some people have registered but for some reason it hasn’t gone through), here is our current list of confirmed, registered attendees:
- MARGO SMIT (ONO President), NPO Ombudsman, Netherlands
- JACK NAGLER (ONO Vice President), CBC Ombudsman, Canada
- ELISABETH RIBBANS (ONO Treasurer), Global Readers’ Editor, Guardian, UK
- DAVID JORDAN, Director, Editorial Policy & Standards, BBC, UK
- ALAN SUNDERLAND (ONO Executive Director), Australian Press Council Member
- BJARNE SCHILLING, Readers’ Editor, Politiken, Denmark (plus partner)
- IGNAZ STAUB, Ombudsman, TX Group, Switzerland
- FIONA CAMERON, Ombudsman, ABC Australia
- LARS BENNIKE, Viewers’ Editor, TV2, Denmark
- KERSTIN DOLDE, Readers’ Advocate, Frankenpost, Germany
- PIERRE CHAMPOUX, CBC Ombudsman (French services), Canada
- SOLEDAD ALCAIDE, Readers’ Advocate, El Pais, Spain
- JASON CUMMING, Director of News Standards, NBC (UK-based)
- EDWIN KREULEN, Ombudsman, Trouw, Netherlands
- JESPER TERMANSEN, Users’ Editor, DR, Denmark
- ED WASSERMAN, Professor of Journalism, Berkeley, USA (plus partner)
- HERMAN SCHOLTZ, Ombudsman, Press Council, South Africa
- GEORGE CLAASSEN, Public Editor, News 24, South Africa
- ANDREW COCHRAN, Journalism Lecturer and curator, journalismAI.com, Canada
- KAORI OZAWA, Public Editor, Asahi Shimbun, Japan
- MAYAKO SATO, Asahi Shimbun, Japan
- AMANDA BARRETT, VP of Standards & Inclusion, AP, USA
- ARJEN FORTUIN, Ombudsman, NRC, Netherlands
- MIRIAM LEWIN, Defensora, Argentina
- MURRAY GREEN, Media Development consultant and academic, Australia
- STEVEN SPRINGER, Editor, News Standards, Radio Free Asia, USA
- TARMU TAMMERK, Ombudsman, ERR, Estonia
- TIMO HUOVINEN, Head of Journalistic Standards & Ethics, YLE, Finland
- BERT LAUWERS, News Ombudsman, VRT, Belgium
- RUUD HENDRICKX, Ethics Adviser, VRT, Belgium
- ANA SOUSA DIAS, TV Ombudsman, RTP, Portugal
- ANA ISABEL REIS, Radio Ombudsman, RTP, Portugal
- GRAZINA RAMANAUSKAITE, Ethics Inspector of Journalists, Lithuania
- JOHN DANISZEWSKI, Editor at Large for Standards, Associated Press, USA
- ALBERT SVANBERG, Head of Editorial Ethics and Standards, SVT, Sweden
I will also add that I only have 15 confirmed guests on the “London Eye” experience on the Thursday evening, and we have room for around 24. So let me know if you would like to reserve a spot for this (first come/first served).
The current names I have on my list for this are: Margo Smit, Jack Nagler, Kaori Ozawa, Fiona Cameron, Herman Scholtz, Bjarne Schilling and partner, Jesper Termansen, Andrew Cochran, Soledad Alcaide, Murray Green and partner, Kerstin Dolde, Lars Bennike, Elisabeth Ribbans.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF ONO
A reminder, too, that the Conference will be followed on the Saturday morning with the Annual General Meeting of ONO.
This will be held in a room at the BBC, but it will also be available as a live stream on Zoom for those who were unable to attend the conference. A link will be provided to all members closer to the date.
Apart from the usual procedural motions to confirm office holders and board members for ONO, this meeting is one not to be missed, as it will include an important discussion on the future priorities and activities of ONO. A highlight of this will be a range of suggestions from ONO member (and former Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Berkeley) Ed Wasserman on ways in which ONO can take a more pro-active and public role in defending and supporting ethical standards in journalism.
ONO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
A reminder to all members that our Conference will mark the end of Alan Sunderland’s period as voluntary Executive Director of ONO after four years.
The main responsibilities of the Executive Director have been to take responsibility for the monthly newsletters, assist in the organisation of regular shop talks, work with the board on a range of issues, and act as a contact point for members.
ONO is keen to hear from any members who might be interested in stepping into the role, or alternatively in assisting in one or two of those duties for the coming year. As a small organization with low fees, ONO relies on the energy and enthusiasm of its members to ensure we remain a relevant and useful meeting place for ombuds and standards editors to share ideas and discuss important issues.
If you feel you can provide some occasional time and energy to support ONO, please drop a line to us at newsombudsmenorg@gmail.com
THE OMBUDSMAN – AN ENDANGERED SPECIES
It’s a familiar story to many of our members: at a time when public trust in the news media continues to decline, the number of news ombuds around the world also continues to decline.
There is no doubt that news budgets are under increasing pressure, so it becomes tempting to sacrifice a dedicated ombudsman role rather than, for example, losing more front-line reporters.
But is it a false economy? This excellent article featuring the views of ONO President Margo Smit looks at the state of things in Europe, including some recent worrying examples of ombuds who have retired and not been replaced and others who have resigned early after interference from management.
The struggle continues…
THE ONGOING DEBATE ON OBJECTIVITY
The issue of journalistic objectivity is likely to be an important focus of our keynote address by Margaret Sullivan at this year’s conference. You can read some of her recent comments here.
There has also been an important new contribution on the topic from Wesley Lowery, a New York Times writer who made this important contribution to the debate back in 2020.
He has now returned with a new piece which you can read here. It is the best contribution on the topic I have read in quite some time, principally because it is the best attempt I have seen at reconciling the traditional view of objectivity with the current critics of it. In many ways, it suggests that there is less disagreement than might have been imagined between supporters and critics of objectivity. The real issue is not the underlying principles of weighting evidence, testing assertions and reporting diverse perspectives, but in how that plays out in practice.
Well worth a read.
OTHER NEWS:
- From Finnish broadcaster YLE comes this excellent guide to ChatGPT and journalism
- How much of a right of reply is needed when a media review program critiques the published work of other news outlets? An interesting report from Australia.
- What is a fair way to report on polls and research studies? Edwin Kreulen from Dutch newspaper Trouw investigates.
- A great piece from Soledad Alcaide at El Pais in Spain on the rights of women
- A decision from the National News Media Council in Canada over the use of sensitive language in a story on the Middle East.
