WHAT is an ombudsman, and why should you care about this column?
I'm sure many of you are wondering that right now. In all honesty, I was thinking the same thing -- the first part, at least -- when I heard The Cavalier Daily was looking for an ombudsman for the school year.
I checked the Organization of News Ombudsmen's Web site and read that an ombudsman is someone who "receives and investigates complaints" from readers "about accuracy, fairness, balance and good taste in news coverage." The ombudsman then recommends ways to "correct or clarify news reports." That description gave me some insight, but then I saw that "no two ombudsmen work exactly alike." I took that to mean it's up to The Cavalier Daily's managing board and me to figure out the specifics of the job.
I see myself as the liaison between this newspaper and you, the reader. I hope to demystify the editorial process for you and answer your questions about it. I also plan to do my small part to make The Cavalier Daily a better newspaper. Each week in this space, I will tell you what the staff can do to improve. And I will tell you what it's doing well. Journalists always get feedback when something goes wrong, but they rarely hear what they do right.
This year, the members of the managing board wanted an ombudsman who was neither affiliated with the newspaper nor a University alumnus because they wanted something close to an impartial opinion about their work. I met that qualification.
As far as my other qualifications, I'm currently a second-year graduate student in the medical journalism program at the University of North Carolina. I want to be a journalist after I complete my master's degree, but I harbored no such desires when I began my freshman year at North Carolina State University in 1997. I started college majoring in engineering and finished with a degree in biochemistry.
I began working for Technician, the student newspaper, because I saw an ad for sports reporters early in my second year. I thought, "I like sports, and I can write. Maybe I can get good seats for a few football and basketball games." I ended up working for Technician for four years, including two as sports editor, and saw more than a few football and basketball games.
I realized as the number of articles I wrote steadily increased that I enjoyed telling people's stories more than I liked the thought of working in a lab. I eventually added a minor in journalism. After I graduated in 2002, I took a job not as a biochemist, but as a news reporter at a tri-weekly community newspaper near Charlotte.
I understand what working for a student newspaper at a university without a journalism school is like. Nothing made me angrier than hearing someone say, "You're not a real newspaper; you're just a college paper." The newspaper in my hometown publishes slightly more than 6,000 copies once a week. At N.C. State, I helped publish a higher-quality newspaper five times a week with a circulation of 15,000 and a Web site that reached alumni and interested readers around the world.
I took a great deal of pride in what I did at Technician, often working 25 or 30 hours a week while maintaining a full schedule of classes. When my parents asked if I was concentrating too much on the newspaper, I would half-jokingly tell them it was my second major. I'm willing to bet much of the staff at The Cavalier Daily has similar feelings.
I firmly believe student newspapers should be taken seriously. They get the same press releases professional newspapers do, usually get equal access and sometimes produce better articles.
The problem for student reporters, especially those who don't have the benefit of a journalism school, is that they are learning on the job. Student reporters will make mistakes, which are magnified because they appear in print for everyone to see. The tricky part is learning from those mistakes and growing as a journalist.
The editors, reporters, columnists, photographers, graphic artists and other staff members of The Cavalier Daily want their newspaper to be as good as possible. I am convinced the ombudsman's position would not exist if they didn't feel that way.
I hope you share their desire, because I want your input. I want to know what you think could be improved about The Cavalier Daily. I also want to know what you like. Please do not hesitate to e-mail me at ombud@cavalierdaily.com. I look forward to hearing your comments and learning about your university through this newspaper.
Jeremy Ashton can be reached at ombud@cavalierdaily.com.
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