Miss the readers’ advocate?
The Louisville Courier-Journal has become the latest paper to drop its “public editor.” The Post-Dispatch dropped its readers’ advocate position seven years ago.
Louisville’s Pam Platt wrote a farewell column Sunday. The Courier-Journal 40 years ago became the nation’s first newspaper to have an ombudsman. But it’s late in the game at ending the role.
As newspapers face a battery of financial challenges, staff reductions have led many papers to eliminate the role of ombudsman or readers’ advocate. In the past few months, Platt notes, the position was axed at the Baltimore Sun, Fort Worth Star-Telegraph, Orlando Sentinel, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Hartford Courant and the Palm Beach Post.
The Post-Dispatch has been without a readers’ advocate since 2001, when the position was dropped during a newsroom reorganization. (The Post-Dispatch had a full-time readers’ advocate, who wrote a weekly column, from 1974 to 1995. The position was vacant for four years, then filled for two years, before officially ending.)
When the position was dropped here, all staffers were told that they were expected to serve as readers’ advocates. That’s why reporters’ phone numbers and emails appear at the end of their stories. That’s why “contact boxes” appear on the second page of each section listing the names and phone numbers of editors.
Do you think there’s a drop in accountability when the ombudsman’s role is eliminated?
Steve, I e-mailed you with an error in the front page and I got an out of the office auto-response this morning.
Anyway,I have spoken to the editors several times about getting an advocate. Some of the people are great and respond and others just ignore you and others are impossible to get ahold of such as Mr. Goodman. They all remind of the school principal. They and their teachers never do anything wrong. It is not possible to have a rational discussion with many at the Post, especially Tim Poor and Pam Maples. She just whines that I am “yelling” when I am not. They always have a stupid excuse for everything.
It is so tiresome.
I complain a lot and get nowhere. It is extremely disheartening. You would think a paper going down the crapper would listen to someone who is trying to help them. Go figure!
There is absolutely no accountability at the PD. If you ask who is responsible for something, everybody points at each other. No progress from the progressives at the P-D is ever made to better the paper. The same people continue to do the same horrible things time after time. Erregeous errors such as printing letters to the editor calling Republicans names goes on time after time and I get excuse after excuse.
Having no ombusdman is like leaving your teenage kids at home for a week while you are out of town and expecting them to take care of things.