The Newspaper Ombudsman—A Progress Report

Kapoor, Suraj; Smith, Ralph

doi:10.1177/107769907905600327

Cited by 3 publications

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“…Given that press criticism is likely to be scattered within a sea of reader comments, this study made the choice to look in online spaces where press criticism would likely be more highly concentrated. Thus, we made the strategic choice to examine online comments on ombudsmen’s articles because ombudsmen typically address issues of journalism performance (Kapoor and Smith, 1979). Unlike a ‘newspaper ambassador’, who explains the news organization’s actions, ombudsmen are more critical and attempt to represent the views of members of the community (Van Dalen and Deuze, 2006).…”

Section: Research Questions and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reader comments as press criticism: Implications for the journalistic field

2016

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This study examines the actions of readers as press critics and, therefore, as potentially powerful shapers of journalism’s cultural capital. An analysis of 2 years’ worth of online reader comments on the ombudsman columns of three national news organizations reveals readers’ support of – and even nostalgia for – mainstream journalism values such as objectivity, echoing earlier research suggesting the stability of the journalistic field in the face of challenges from new players such as bloggers. But commenters’ critiques of journalistic performance also employed social, and not only professional, values, representing a potential challenge to journalist autonomy.

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Section: Research Questions and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reader comments as press criticism: Implications for the journalistic field

2016

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The News Ombudsman: Viable or Vanishing?

Starc¹

2010

Journalismus Und Öffentlichkeit

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Readers’ Advocates or Newspapers’ Ambassadors?

Dalen

Deuze

2006

European Journal of Communication

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At the beginning of the 21st century, politicians, scholars and journalists want news media to be more accountable and transparent. The newspaper ombudsman is often considered an example of an accountability mechanism. Similarly to Japan, the US and elsewhere, newspapers in the Netherlands have introduced this function in the newsroom. A questionnaire and open-ended interviews with Dutch ombudsmen showed two different views of the function: on the one hand, they see themselves as the ‘readers’ advocate’, whose loyalty lies with the reader; on the other hand, they are the ‘paper’s ambassador’, who defends the paper’s interests. The ombudsman can be seen as an accountability mechanism, or as a way to strengthen the newspaper’s relationship with its readers.

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The Newspaper Ombudsman—A Progress Report

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Reader comments as press criticism: Implications for the journalistic field

Reader comments as press criticism: Implications for the journalistic field

The News Ombudsman: Viable or Vanishing?

Readers’ Advocates or Newspapers’ Ambassadors?

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