Monday we published Tim Thornton’s last column (“Highs and lows,” Feb. 24). Thornton was our ombudsman for more than four years. As ombudsman, Thornton wrote a weekly column reviewing The Cavalier Daily’s work, commenting on what we did well and what we did poorly. We were lucky to have Thornton, a seasoned journalist with about 30 years in the business under his belt, as our readers’ representative. His journalistic know-how and avuncular wisdom enriched our editorial pages.
Thornton was skilled at pointing out errors in journalistic procedure. Last December, for example, he critiqued our sports coverage for failing to include quotes from the University’s football coach Mike London (“All in good sport,” Dec. 4). A few months before, he drew attention to our negligent omission of margins of error in our coverage of political polls (“Rewriting the news,” Sept. 23). Thornton’s columns helped our staff grow as reporters and editors, particularly in terms of journalistic method and best practices. Though some level of accountability is already built into journalism — it is a public art — Thornton’s perceptive columns helped keep us honest, to our readers and to ourselves. We appreciate his service to the paper and wish him the best in his future pursuits. As we bid farewell to Thornton, we welcome a new phase in The Cavalier Daily’s relationship with its readers: we’re hiring a student ombudsman. We’re also changing the position title from “ombudsman” to “public editor.”
We’ll explain the name change first. No one knows what an ombudsman is. So few are familiar with the term that Thornton, after four years as our ombudsman, took the step of devoting an entire column last September to explaining what it was he did (“A second opinion,” Sept. 2). The term “public editor” is more intuitive and more in line with what other news organizations call their readers’ representatives.
Our ideal public editor is one who critiques our coverage in terms of both method and content. Thornton occasionally offered suggestions for ways we could expand our coverage, such as last month when he urged us to follow up on our reporting of the University’s open honor trial with an investigative feature to provide a comprehensive glance at the honor system and the open trial process (“Better late than never,” Jan. 28). But Thornton’s distance from the communities we serve hampered his ability to determine what content merits coverage. Writing from Roanoke, Thornton lacked firsthand knowledge of the University and Charlottesville, where most of our readership is located. We are a college newspaper. Most of our readers are University students, faculty, alumni, staff and parents. A student public editor — especially a graduate student with experience in media — will have a more immediate grasp on what content we could deliver to best serve our readers.
While we welcome criticism sent straight to our inboxes, we want a public advocate who can be responsive to the complaints and concerns of our readers. We think readers will be more comfortable approaching a student public editor. Sometimes readers have concerns with our coverage that need to be addressed but may not be severe enough to elicit a letter to the editor. The public editor can be a useful intermediary between The Cavalier Daily and its readership by relaying such concerns.
The Cavalier Daily is a compendium of student voices, and now we’re adding another. We hope a student public editor with a finger on the University’s pulse will prod us to serve our readers more astutely.
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