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(04/23/01 4:00am)
THIS is my last column as The Cavalier Daily's ombudsman. It has been an honor and a privilege to be given free rein to critique this paper for a year - in public, at that. The staff has been gracious in accepting criticism, and the readers have been responsive in addressing perceived problems.
(04/17/01 4:00am)
THE NEW Economy is collapsing, NASDAQ is a roller coaster, Internet companies are going bankrupt left and right, and venture capitalists are as nervous as long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs. Is there no silver lining to be found in the little storm cloud that is the Information Superhighway? There sure is, and it's called The Cavalier Daily online edition.
(04/09/01 4:00am)
AS I BELIEVE I have mentioned in a previous column, one of the things I like to do least as an ombudsman is to bring up a problem without offering a solution, a correction or, at minimum, some potential direction for change. With the current David Horowitz brouhaha, however, I find the more I consider the developing situation, the more bogged down I become, like struggling in quicksand.
(04/02/01 4:00am)
RECENTLY, I went to a training institute developed by the U.S. Department of Justice, where I attended a media training designed for people who have fairly controversial fields of work or, at the least, fields in which public and professional emotions run high. It was created and staffed by journalists, and intended to prepare the attendees to deal with interactions with print, radio and television reporters.
(03/26/01 5:00am)
WHEN I reflect on it, I am mostly grateful not to be the editor of a newspaper. While I get my share of complaints and nasty letters, rarely can I move them to come and trash my offices. I don't have to make the difficult choices, day in and day out, that editors have to make regarding the content of the paper. The recent flap over David Horowitz's ads opposing reparations for slavery, and The Cavalier Daily's role in it, is an excellent example of the tightrope editors have to walk, and how there is rarely a single appropriate course of action.
(03/05/01 5:00am)
THIS PAST week, The Cavalier Daily again offered a diverse set of issues for commentary. It is rare that a single issue triggers enough commentary to fill a column, but that was the case this week. I won't get past Monday's issue, which gave ample food for thought.
(02/26/01 5:00am)
ONE OF the problems with being the Ombudsman of The Cavalier Daily is the high standard of work that the paper produces. This consistent level of achievement means I am often reduced to focusing on relatively minor aspects of the paper for criticism. This attention to smaller details is in line with the continuing effort to make the paper as excellent as possible. While it is often more interesting to have a major ethics or professional procedure issue to address, the minor aspects also have a substantial effect on how the paper is perceived in terms of trustworthiness, reliability and professionalism. With that goal in mind, I present a "grab bag" of problems this week.
(02/19/01 5:00am)
The new Tech Trends column by Nick Lawler is a welcome addition as a regular Business feature. The critical role technological innovation, and the tech world generally, plays in the current business world fairly dictates that every serious newspaper cover technology developments. This introductory column offered quick synopses on several tech topics, with nice, tight writing.
(02/12/01 5:00am)
THE IMPORTANCE of investigative journalism: Investigative reporting is the single most important task journalists can engage in. Investigative journalists shine their light on matters of importance to the public, despite the unwillingness of those involved to have their roles or actions exposed to public view. The ability to bring matters to the attention of the public is the source of "the power of the press" and the mechanism that not only protects journalism in a free society, but that in part defines a free society. To create a totalitarian regime, one of the first things you need to do is take control of the news media.
(01/29/01 5:00am)
The 111th: This week was the last official week of the 111th Managing Board of The Cavalier Daily. While they will remain listed in the staff box for one more week, it will actually be the 112th Board at the helm, with the 111th facilitating the transition. To the 111th - Tom Bednar, Brian Haluska, Lindsay Wise, John Clark and Michael Gillespie - let me say this: thank you. It has been a privilege to serve as the ombudsman for such an exceptional paper. You have shown yourselves to be professionals, and you have worked harder than anyone should ever be expected to work. You have been decent and ethical, which puts you ahead and above much of that which currently passes for journalism. You deserve to feel proud of your job well done, and I hope that you do.
(01/22/01 5:00am)
AS THE Cavalier Daily resumes publication in the new year, I would like to take this opportunity to review some aspects of the paper's performance from last semester. There were a few standout aspects, both good and bad.
(11/20/00 5:00am)
FOR THE last two weeks, as the election controversy has unfolded, the national media has kept up a phenomenal level of coverage on the events in Florida. Laudably, so has The Cavalier Daily. And unlike the national media, particularly television news, the high level of election coverage in The Cavalier Daily hasn't obviated all other news stories.
(11/13/00 5:00am)
THE POLLS are closed, the election is over, and no clear winner has yet emerged. The clear loser, however, made itself glaringly apparent: television journalism. While the Ombudsman column generally tries to stick to addressing the behavior of The Cavalier Daily, some opportunities come along only once in a lifetime.
(11/06/00 5:00am)
IN MY OCT. 16 column ("Offended read-ers shouldn't assume editorial cartoons only aim at humor"), I had supported the use of an editorial cartoon in addressing the presence of an armed robber near Grounds. In particular, I took on the public perception that cartoons are always about humor, a perception that excludes cartoons from serious commentary, and belies the direct visual and visceral impact cartoons can have when commenting on matters of importance. The editorial cartoon had been more about warning the community to be alert than about humor, with no apparent "gag" or joke.
(10/30/00 5:00am)
EARLIER this month, the Ombudsman's column addressed the issue of balanced coverage as part of examining the most common reader complaint - that an article in the paper wasn't "fair." The other aspect, which was set aside for a later time, was subjectivity in reporting. This column seeks to complete the discussion which began in the first column this month by addressing the subjective/objective distinction in reporting.
(10/16/00 4:00am)
On Tuesday, October 10, The Cavalier Daily ran an editorial cartoon entitled "Early Halloween Haunts," depicting a masked gunman robbing two people, and saying "No trick! Give me your treats." The editorial cartoon is, of course, referring to the recent robbery of two students who were walking on Shamrock Road early on Saturday, October 7.
(10/09/00 4:00am)
PARTICULARLY noteworthy in last week's editions of The Cavalier Daily was the Thursday coverage on the risks of meningitis. What is striking about the nearly full-page coverage is that it didn't occur after an outbreak of meningitis ravaged the University community, but instead seems intended to help prevent such an occurrence. It is, essentially, pro-active, preventative journalism, in service to the perceived needs and well-being of the readership.
(10/02/00 4:00am)
PERHAPS the most frequent complaint heard by the Ombudsman is that a story's coverage wasn't "fair." Upon explanation of such complaints, typically the complaints are over two aspects of journalistic objectivity: balance of coverage and subjectivity in reporting. While both of these concerns are vital to the practice of journalism, it appears that so far this year The Cavalier Daily generally does a good job on both objectivity and balance of coverage, and there has not been a trend of problems in either area.
(09/25/00 4:00am)
THE GLOVES are off, and the Ombudsman is impelled (nay, forced!) to comment on the running battle. Al and Dubya? Allen and Robb? No, the conflict of import to the Ombudsman is the volley between Letter to the Editor author Nicholas Graber-Grace and Cavalier Daily cartoonist Kevin Bostic, creator of Paradigm Shift.
(09/18/00 4:00am)
AT THE risk of being accused of piling on, the Ombudsman is compelled to comment on the brouhaha concerning the opinion piece by Brett Ferrell and Sam Ross on sexual assault statistics. As the journalistic failings of the piece have already been addressed, the opportunity to discuss how not to use social science in journalism remains.