NEW SHOP TALK ON DIVERSITY
Thanks to everyone who joined us for our last shop talk looking at the issue of climate change reporting in general and in particular the review done by ONO President Margo Smit of the climate coverage done by her own news organisation.
For those who missed it, the video can be watched in the Members Only section of our website (password ETHICS22) along with all the other videos of our recent shop talks.
Our next shop talk will be at 1200 UTC on TUESDAY DECEMBER 6th and it will examine the importance of promoting newsroom diversity. Members may recall the important research done by ONO Member Kathy English that argued ombuds and standards editors had a potential role to play in encouraging and monitoring diversity as a way of improving editorial standards.
The issue is worth revisiting as Agence France Presse has recently established the role of Diversity Editor. The position has been filled by Jessica Lopez, who carried out a major review of the diversity of coverage at AFP. Jessica reports to AFP’s Standards and Ethics Editor (and ONO member) Eric Wishart, and I am pleased to say that Jessica will be joining us at the shop talk to talk about her research and her ongoing role.
You can read more about her appointment here.
So please join us on December 6th for this important conversation.
ONO 2023 CONFERENCE
The ONO Board remains confident that we are close to announcing dates, locations and other arrangements for a conference in the first half of 2023.
One of the challenges is that there are a lot of other events and conferences happening around the same time, not least of which is the Eurovision Song contest and the small matter of crowning a new British monarch.
But stay tuned – more details will be coming soon!
A WARM WELCOME TO NEW ONO MEMBERS
It has been a busy couple of months for new members here at ONO, and we are delighted to welcome several new faces to our ranks:
The South African Press Council has appointed a new Press Ombudsman, Herman Scholtz, an advocate with years of experience in the media industry. You can read more about his appointment here. Herman takes over from a former ONO Member, Pippa Green, and we are delighted to welcome him to the organisation. He joins George Claassen as one of our two African members.
At Australian public broadcaster SBS, Amy Stockwell has taken over from long time Ombudsman and ONO Board Member Sally Begbie. We are pleased to welcome Amy and also pleased that Sally has decided to stay on as a retired member and maintain her longstanding involvement with ONO.
Finally, as we have previously mentioned, Australia’s other public broadcaster, the ABC, has appointed its first ever Ombudsman and we are delighted to confirm that Fiona Cameron has also joined our ranks as a member. Welcome Fiona, and you can read more about her role here.
A FOND FAREWELL TO A FORMER COLLEAGUE
As new members arrive, old members inevitably move on.
This month, we farewell Australian ABC Editorial Director Craig McMurtrie, who has retired from the role.
Craig is one of those ONO colleagues whose time with us coincided with the covid pandemic, which meant he missed out on the opportunity to meet many of us face to face. Nevertheless he was an active contributor to shop talks and other activities. ONO is pleased that the new ABC Ombudsman has already joined ONO and we will also be extending an invitation to Craig’s successor in the standards editor role next year.
In the meantime, Craig has penned this personal message to everyone at ONO:
“Thank you for the discussions, insights and ideas exchanged on editorial issues over recent years. After more than four decades in public broadcasting in NZ and Australia, I’ve decided to dial down the work hours and step down as ABC editorial director at the end of November.
It has been a pleasure getting to know everyone in shop talk sessions and through further conversations on specific issues, though I’m very disappointed I didn’t get to actually attend an ONO conference. Unfortunately in my first year in this role I was unable to make the annual gathering because of work commitments in Australia and then COVID wrecked other plans.
A year ago the ABC Board asked me to commission an external review of our editorial complaint handling procedures and though it doesn’t directly relate to my decision to retire, my departure does clear the way for the organisation to follow the core recommendation of that review – splitting the role into its pre and post publication parts.
Judith Whelan (previously the director of the Regional & Local division) is succeeding me as editorial director with responsibility for all pre-publication processes (editorial advice, training, setting policy, classification and guidance). whelan.judith@abc.net.au
Fiona Cameron has been appointed the ABC’s first ombudsman and has taken over editorial complaint handling processes. cameron.fiona@abc.net.au
I’ve encouraged both to join ONO and have no doubt that they will be in touch seeking your advice and guidance as they revise our editorial policy and complaint handling processes.
I trust the important work of ONO and its members will continue and I wish you all the very best for the future. “
NEW LINKS WITH OUR GERMAN COLLEAGUES
For many years now, our fellow ombuds in Germany have had a strong and vibrant association of their own – the Vereinigung der Medien-Ombudsleute (VDMO).
The German association of ombuds has a slightly different structure to ours, involving both personal members and publisher members.
In the past the practical difficulties created by language barriers has interfered with our ability to share information and ideas. To some extent this of course remains the case, but the growing sophistication of automated translation services like DEEPL and even Google Translate makes communication much easier.
ONO was recently contacted by the Chairman of the VDMO, Anton Sahlender, seeking closer cooperation. Two members of the German association – Ignaz Staub and Kerstin Dolde – are long-term active members of ONO as well, and this has ensured close ties between our two bodies.
However, we are now pleased to confirm that we will be taking active steps to build that relationship further. To begin with, Anton himself has expressed an interest in joining us as a member and we are delighted to welcome him. In addition, you can now find a link to the German association’s website on the front page of the ONO site.
Over time, we are keen to explore more ways our two organizations can work together, and more situations where we can use translation and interpreter services to assist. In the meantime, I would encourage all ONO members to visit the VDMO site and, using Google Translate, explore some of the content there.
Willkommen bei unseren Kollegen!
NEW ROLE FOR ONO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Some personal news from me – I have been appointed to the Australian Press Council as an Independent Journalist Member.
The Press Council is the principal body with responsibility for responding to complaints about news content. In my role, I will be part of the overall governance structure of the council but I will also sit on adjudication panels from time to time, so 3 years after I hung up my spurs at the ABC I will have a chance to investigate a few audience complaints again. You can read more about the new role here.
MEETING WITH NEW PUBLIC MEDIA
OMBUDSMAN IN LATVIA
Last December, Latvia appointed its first ever public media ombudsman: Andu Rožukalns, who is the Dean of the Faculty of Communication and a member of the Latvian Media Ethics Council.
In an encouraging development, two members of the ONO board, Timo Huovinen of the Finnish public broadcaster YLE and Tarmu Tammerk of the Estonian public broadcaster ERR, visited the Latvian capital Riga on September 23 to address a conference organized by the newly appointed Latvian public media ombudsman.
They shared their experience of what role ombuds can play in maintaining public trust and how important it is for press freedom to stand up against online harassment of journalists.
OTHER NEWS:
- The latest newsletter from the NPR Public Editor Kelly McBride tackles the issue of when and why labels like “conservative”, “moderate” or “liberal” should be used to describe people and ideas
- Some fascinating background on a new journalism start up that is searching for new ways to clearly distinguish between facts, analysis and opinion
- The Columbia Journalism Review explores the challenges of ownership, specifically involving Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post
- In the Netherlands, Margo Smit ponders the problems of reporting asylum seeker statistics
- At Dutch daily paper NRC, newly appointed Reader’s Editor Arjen Fortuin discusses the challenges of covering the World Cup in Qatar
- In Argentina, practical steps to encourage people to recognise their rights when accessing news and information on social sites like You Tube.
