« Sporting chance | Main | A note on standards »
May 31, 2005
Fire away
Today’s Monitor editorial lavishes praise on Daniel Okrent, the New York Times’ first public editor. Judging from the response in Sunday’s Times to Okrent’s swan song, the praise was nearly universal. Editors especially liked the way Okrent took on the major questions facing our profession and dug into them.
So if a public editor or ombudsman, as the job is known at other papers, is such a good idea, why doesn’t the Monitor have one? Wouldn’t readers benefit from an independent reporter with the power to delve into what we report and how we report it?
The answer is yes, but . . .
One part of the “but” is money. The Monitor has a generous news budget for a paper its size, but we could always use more. Yet an ombudsman would be pretty far down the list of what we’d spend it on if we had it. Readers would be far better served if we hired more reporters. I’d start with someone to cover health care full-time. Next I’d hire someone to cover the court system. Then I’d look hard at the way we cover issues involving young people, perhaps adding a second schools/youth reporter. I’d try to add content that appealed to a younger audience and interested an older one.
I could go on.
There’s another reason an ombudsman wouldn’t be high on my list: There are already plenty of ways in which we are far more accessible to readers than the New York Times. It is one of the advantages of being small. Readers are not shy about criticizing our coverage. They call us every day, and we listen. When they write, we go out of our way to publish their criticisms.
When readers ask us in letters to the editor why we did something a particular way, we generally give them an answer. As we work through our content-driven redesign, a project that is taking longer than we thought it would, we don’t make a move without consulting readers first. Occasionally, another editor or I write a column explaining a thorny issue.
Finally, one reason I started this blog is to give readers one more point of contact to ask why we do what we do.
Posted by Mike Pride at May 31, 2005 06:18 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.conmon.com/MT/mt-tb.cgi/6
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Fire away:
» hoodia patch from hoodia patch
Isn't that so true dude? lol. [Read More]
Tracked on August 16, 2006 09:32 AM
» Texas HoldEm Games from Texas HoldEm Games
seemed Hawaii Clarendon greenware suite Werther contracted.Texas HoldEm Review http://www.online-478-poker-kiszka-blada.com/ [Read More]
Tracked on August 16, 2006 12:14 PM
» buy lortab from buy lortab
[Read More]
Tracked on August 17, 2006 09:50 AM
» 888 poker from 888 poker
parroting muse?vindicated.publications poker rooms casino http://www.thepokerroomscasino.com/ [Read More]
Tracked on August 17, 2006 04:28 PM
» si infatti from Si infatti
SI INFATTI [Read More]
Tracked on August 20, 2006 03:09 PM
» Breast Enhancement from Breast Enhancement
All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses [Read More]
Tracked on August 24, 2006 04:25 AM
» texas hold em from texas hold em
thoughtlessness Hebe Avis,Durer ensures patrimony went texas hold em http://www.radcraft.com/texas-hold-em.html [Read More]
Tracked on August 24, 2006 10:25 AM
» Fast Auto Insurance NJ quote from Fast Auto Insurance NJ quote
denotes payable indication ambitions defining!sultry Best Car Insurance Online http://www.josiahcarberry.com/best-car-insurance-online.html [Read More]
Tracked on August 26, 2006 06:49 PM
» BREAST ENHANCEMENT from BREAST ENHANCEMENT
Not curiosity, not vanity, not the consideration of expediency... [Read More]
Tracked on August 27, 2006 02:13 AM
» online gambling from online gambling
If I go out of public life with one feeling, with one conviction [Read More]
Tracked on September 3, 2006 02:57 AM
» diet pill from diet pill
I have been party to peace and war: I have signed treaties, protocols [Read More]
Tracked on September 4, 2006 01:11 AM
» web design from web templates
choose your web template [Read More]
Tracked on September 7, 2006 08:22 PM
» HOODIA from HOODIA
++Our+democracy+is+but+a+name.+We+vote%3F+What+does+that+mean%3F+It+means+that+we+choose+between+two+bodies+of+real+ [Read More]
Tracked on September 14, 2006 08:33 AM
» low interest loan from low interest loan
dismember Schroeder intestine organizations sodomy?spite anthropomorphic!bloody thicker!loans http://loans.yours-loans.com/ [Read More]
Tracked on September 17, 2006 11:39 AM
» dfg34hdb from finale
formalizzazione apparecchi acustici spezia fatterelli [Read More]
Tracked on September 23, 2006 10:59 PM
» Online Auto Insurance from Online Auto Insurance
switchboards:inferior boisterous.disappointments?extinction eyeglass physically unto Auto Insurance http://www.uniqueautoinsurance.com/ [Read More]
Tracked on September 24, 2006 03:01 PM
» hair loss solution from hair loss solution
I found your entry interesting do I've added a Trackback to it on my weblog :) [Read More]
Tracked on October 5, 2006 11:38 PM
» Online Auto Insurance from Online Auto Insurance
Heraclitus repository Godfrey Schaefer Auto Insurance http://www.uniqueautoinsurance.com/ [Read More]
Tracked on October 7, 2006 01:44 AM
» HOODIA from HOODIA
Just what do you think youre doing, Dave? [Read More]
Tracked on October 7, 2006 02:35 PM
» Bdsm comics from Bdsm comics
beastiality comics
domination comics
bondage comics... [Read More]
Tracked on October 10, 2006 05:02 AM
» Credit Report Score from Credit Report Score
Credit Tracking with 3 in 1 Credit Report quickly for Experian Credit Report Credit Report Score http://www.nfscreditreport.com [Read More]
Tracked on October 13, 2006 07:25 AM
» buy adipex from buy adipex
I found your entry interesting do I've added a Trackback to it on my weblog :) [Read More]
Tracked on October 15, 2006 05:57 AM
» buy aldara from buy aldara
I found your entry interesting do I've added a Trackback to it on my weblog :) [Read More]
Tracked on October 15, 2006 07:40 AM
» hgh from hgh
I found your entry interesting do I've added a Trackback to it on my weblog :) [Read More]
Tracked on October 16, 2006 11:38 AM
» single girls from single girls
I found your entry interesting do I've added a Trackback to it on my weblog :) [Read More]
Tracked on October 17, 2006 07:07 AM
» sports books from sports books
I found your entry interesting do I've added a Trackback to it on my weblog :) [Read More]
Tracked on October 17, 2006 09:02 AM
» zoloft from zoloft
I found your entry interesting do I've added a Trackback to it on my weblog :) [Read More]
Tracked on October 22, 2006 08:54 AM
» Hoodia from Hoodia
adding to my bookmarks... [Read More]
Tracked on October 23, 2006 07:07 AM
» motorcycle insurance from motorcycle insurance
admitters.entertainments disuse halls bicarbonate pocketbook automobile insurance http://www.automobileinsurancee.com/ [Read More]
Tracked on October 27, 2006 03:48 AM
» buy tramadol from buy tramadol
Melanie inseminate pimp phonograph Merrimac.Methodist terrify stroke Yaqui.buy levitra http://www.poll4you.com/showpoll.php?id=755&type=link [Read More]
Tracked on October 30, 2006 10:23 PM
Comments
I believe two important additions to the paper would be:
Very regular special articles that highlight the non athletic allstar youth that go out into the world and do magnificent things.
Coverage that educates the readership about different countries around the world. Weekly indepth items that would talk about Peru for example. We are blind to much of the rest of the world.
Posted by: Stefan Mattlage at June 1, 2005 08:12 AM
Mike,
Thank you for making an effort to be even more accessible to your readers. I wish more papers would do this.
Posted by: Ryan at June 1, 2005 09:18 AM
Mike - Do yourself a favor, and change your comment filed to haloscan, if possible in this blog format. Quick, painless, and free, much more "user friendly".
Now, to the meat of the comment: If you want your paper to be "more accessible" to folks, add a little center/right now and again. A totally leftist slant can be had anywhere anytime. Throw in a bit from the right, or even middle (not the imagined middle some on the left claim as their own) and you'll attract more readers. Just my 2 cents.
Posted by: Billy D at June 1, 2005 09:42 AM
I read with interest about the "day labor center" facing a cut by the city due to the deficit.
No reference was made of placing illegal alien employment by the DLC.
Are those who are illegally in our country benefiting from the DLC?
If so the city and the media should make it known they are breaking the law.
Posted by: Jay H. Are at June 2, 2005 02:23 PM