ONO Newsletter December 2024

Newsletter December 2024

A Word From The Board

Dear colleagues,

This month’s newsletter is shorter and later because of the holiday period but it nevertheless brings important news of our plans for the 2025 conference in Madrid, updates on our website upgrade and the sad news that Jack Nagler stepped down as CBC ombud and therefore ONO vice president at the end of 2024. The good news is that he will stay to help with the planning of the 2025 ONO conference.

Happy New year!

Margo Smit, president
Jack Nagler, vice-president
Elisabeth Ribbans, treasurer
Chris Elliott, executive director

ONO Madrid 2025

Hotels, transport and a special guest

As preparations for the 2025 ONO conference in Madrid gather speed, our colleague Soledad Alcaide has provided some helpful tips and guidance about good hotels and public transport. Registration for the conference will be open soon.

First, the board has confirmed the following dates for next year’s ONO conference: Tuesday May 6 through Friday May 9, 2025.

Schedule:

May 6, late afternoon/early evening welcome reception
Wednesday May 7, conference day (location CaixaForum)
Thursday May 8, conference day (El País building), Ombuds celebration (El País), conference dinner (location to be decided)
Friday May 9, morning General Members Meeting; afternoon social programme.

Information about hotels in Madrid:

Soledad says that it is “important that you know that May is a peak season in Madrid, due to the fact (I am afraid) that is the bullfighting season of the Madrid’s plaza”.

Soledad has negotiated favourable rates with the Hotel Catalonia Atocha (which is located just a short distance from the Caixaforum, delegates can get there on foot). The hotel will block 30 rooms until February 17 for ONO members that can be cancelled anytime until April 8. Their terms are:

Hotel Catalonia Atocha
Check-in: May 6, 2025, Check-out: May 9, 2025
Single Room (DUI): €220
Double Room (DBL): €240
Price per room per night/standard 10% VAT, buffet breakfast included.

If rooms are needed for the weekend, rate to be consulted
Complimentary in-room services: Free WIFI, safety box, and kettle (for coffee and tea)

To benefit from this rate, attendees must write to atocha.reservas@cataloniahotels.com indicating in their email that they are members of ONO to formalize the reservation. During the confirmation process, they will be asked for a guarantee card, and a payment link will be sent via email on April 8. At that time, delegates have 24 hours to make the reservation payment.

As this is a group reservation, it has special conditions regarding cancellation and will become non-refundable from April 8. All cancellations up to that date will have no cost.

Other hotels in the area:

Hotel Mediodía
Pl. del Emperador Carlos V, 8, Centro, 28012 Madrid

ITC Mora by Soho Boutique
P.º del Prado, 32, 1, Centro, 28014 Madrid

Rafaelhoteles Atocha
Méndez Álvaro, 30, 28045 Madrid España

Ac Hotel Atocha
C/ Delicias, 42, 28045 Madrid España

Only YOU Hotel Atocha
Paseo De La Infanta Isabel, 13, 28014 Madrid España

SLEEP’N Atocha
Calle del Dr. Drumen, 4, 28012 Madrid España

Public transport:

In Madrid, public transport is very good. Buses and the metro are fast and reach almost everywhere. It will be necessary to take the subway to get to the El País facilities, which are far from the city centre. You only need a Zone A ticket.

Soledad recommends buying a 10-trip ticket (12,2 euros).

You can use it via your phone, but only if you have Android.

If not, you can purchase the ticket at every metro station. Here is more information in English. Soledad says please be aware that the advice given is to buy a tourist pass and she would not recommend that option.

Our special guest…

In addition, we can confirm that the keynote speaker will be the photographer Emilio Morenatti (picture right).

As a photographer, Emilio Morenatti has worked in more than 60 countries. He has documented wars in Ukraine, Afghanistan (where he lost a foot) and Gaza (where he was kidnapped). Emilio will focus on two of the key, linked themes of the conference: AI and honesty.

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Picture: Bernardo Pérez

www.newsombuds.org

New year – New website

The refurbished and upgraded ONO website is ready to go live in the next few weeks. Jeff Brown and his terrific team at Honeytree Technologies are in the last stages of the upgrade and preparing to go live. In their latest bulletin on progress Jeff says they have completed the handover documentation, which will outline all the most important aspects of our new website.

It is important that all members take note that sometime in the next couple of weeks each member will receive her or his login credentials. These will allow them to access the new membership system, etc. This will happen automatically when Jeff pushes the button so members need to be on the lookout for the login prompt. As we had two automatic prompts sent in error by the development system we need to identify the prompt that gives members access.

In addition, Jeff’s team will be monitoring and fine tuning the SEO and this work will take a week after the new site has been published.

Along with ONO’s new website comes a refurbished newsletter that you may already have received in your inbox. We hope you appreciate the fact that it can be easily read on whatever device you may consult it. Please check in your spam folder if you have not received it yet. Comments are very welcome!

Jack Nagler

“Ignore the bullies. But don’t ignore the sceptics, embrace them.”

Jack Nagler has stepped down as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s English Services ombud, a post he has held since 2019, and also as ONO’s vice president, a post he has held with distinction since 2021. Before that, he spent three decades working in newsrooms, control rooms and boardrooms.

Jack covered everything from elections to the Olympics to natural disasters, and he led the most recent revision of CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices (JSP). He also spent five years on the Canadian Association of Journalists’ ethics committee and co-authored the current version of Canada’s code of journalistic ethics for the Radio Television Digital News Association.

The new CBC ombud is Maxime Bertrand, former director of community relations for Radio-Canada (CBC’s French Services). She became an ONO member in 2024.

In his farewell speech, during which he thanked colleagues, past and present, Jack reiterated his support for the CBC values of accuracy, fairness, balance, impartiality and integrity. He also made that important but sometimes tough distinction between bullies and sceptics: ignore the former but embrace the latter.

Jack will continue to attend ONO board meetings to help plan the Madrid conference.

Below, from left to right: Pierre Champoux, Maxime Bertrand, Jack Nagler and Catherine Tait, CBC/Radio-Canada’s outgoing CEO

From our radar

A few links to articles that members may find interesting…

Thanks to Margo Smit, Ignaz Staub, Tom Kent and Stephen Pritchard for their contributions. If you spot something that you think may be interesting to members please email ONO with the link.

Washington Post

NRC (behind a paywall)