Ombudsmen columns

Here are links to some of the past week's columns by ombudsmen, readers' representatives and editors around the nation. More columns and information about ombudsmen in the U.S. and around the world can be found at the Organization of News Ombudsmen website (which has a permanent link on the right side of this page).
inks to other ombudsmen and readers’ representatives in the United States:

Washington Post, "Public death, private life"

NPR, "NPR's Iraq coverage"

PBS, "On the Frontline, again"

Sacramento Bee public editor, "As war drags on, public interest -- and news -- fades"; editor, "For The Bee, more blogs on more and more topics"

The Plain-Dealer (Cleveland), "Stories should tell readers where think tanks stand politically"

Chicago Tribune, "News balance no easy task"

Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville), "Why 'balance' may be elusive"

The Salt Lake Tribune, "Readers fake sltrib.com registration info"

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "MLK's profound legacy touches two journalists"

Hartford Courant, "No more changes forecast"

The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), "Being careful about what we call you"

Anniston Star, "Anonymous sources done right"

Note to staff on the Tupac Shakur investigative piece

Below is a memo from Times Publisher David Hiller and Editor Russ Stanton about today's report on the Tupac Shakur story of March 17.

Reader reaction on the topic can be found here.

Critics' bylines will reflect their specialties

The memo below from Associate Editor Leo Wolinsky announces a change in critics' bylines.

New roles for two latimes.com editors

From a memo to staff from David Lauter, editor of the California section, and Aaron Curtiss, deputy innovation editor, announcing new jobs for two editors at the online edition:

"Doonesbury" clamor

Almost 100 readers have called or written to complain that "Doonesbury" seems to have been yanked from the comics pages. The strip is, in fact, gone, but only temporarily while Garry Trudeau takes some time off. Editors tried to alert readers with a box in Monday's Calendar section next to the comics headlined "Comics sampling." On Tuesday the headline was changed to "Trudeau vacation." Both days the box explained that the artist was taking time off, and The Times would fill that space by trying out new strips until mid-June. Sherry Stern, the editor who oversees the comics, explains in this message:

Robber in a USC sweatshirt

Matt Swanson of Los Angeles sent this question about a March 19 story:

"It was chilling to read that two students were robbed at gunpoint recently while studying in USC classrooms. While you reported in detail what the suspects were wearing, for some reason you neglected to mention their race, which I think would be significant to know since the perpetrators are at large. Given the demographics of the area surrounding USC, I'm wondering if there is some policy at the L.A. Times that prevents identifying suspects' race."

Physical descriptions in the print version of the article included  references to "a man in a red-orange hooded sweatshirt" for the first armed robbery; in the second, the story described "a man ...wearing a black cloth mask as well as a red-hooded sweatshirt with a yellow Trojan emblem on the front."

The story concluded, "LAPD Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner said investigators believe the same person may be responsible, although there were discrepancies in the witness descriptions. One victim described the robber as 18 to 20. The other victim said he was between 20 and 30."

Ombudsmen columns

Here are links to some of the past week's columns by ombudsmen, readers' representatives and editors around the nation. More columns and information about ombudsmen in the U.S. and around the world can be found at the Organization of News Ombudsmen website (which has a permanent link on the right side of this page).

Washington Post, "When The Post was late to church"

Kansas City Star, "Coverage of Obama and Wright needed more detail"

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "Nailing down the Wright story"

The News&Observer (Raleigh, NC), "Did the N&O swoon over Obama?"

NPR, "A reporter's notebook"

ESPN, "New-and-improved 'SportsCenter' throws ombudsman curveball"

PBS, "Debating the war"

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Team effort, including readers', drove storm coverage"

Sacramento Bee - public editor's column, "Kings! Kings! Oh, be still, editors' beating hearts"; editor's column, "Reporters in Baghdad are a source of pride for Bee"

Chicago Tribune, "A healthy debate on what's bad taste"

The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville), "Readers see many  mistakes"

Hartford Courant, "Letters to the reader representative'

The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), "Stories played based on facts, not 'what ifs'"

San Antonio Express-News, "Problems with facts - or propaganda?"

 

latimes.com and the L.A. Times

Beverly Price of Encinitas writes, "I frequently go online to find an article I read in order to e-mail a link or cite it in a website/blog. I have a difficult time finding the article because it's not listed under the headline given it in the paper. Sometimes I can't find the article at all. Does the L.A. Times want to be totally irrelevant to the Internet?"

In fact, online headlines differ from those in print for just the opposite reason, and the way they're written is just one factor in why latimes.com readership has increased dramatically in recent months. But Price's note touches on another question -- how well (or not) the search function works at latimes.com -- and those are two of several questions we get regularly from readers frustrated or curious about The Times online.

Meredith Artley, Executive Editor, Interactive, gives some answers.

How'd you get that shot?

As is evident from a recent action shot at the Pac-10 basketball tournament, there’s more to photographing a big event than just showing up with a couple of cameras and sitting courtside. Robert Gauthier took the picture from on high that showed UCLA's Kevin Love and Stanford's Robin Lopez leaping upward toward the hoop.

How'd Gauthier do it?

Very carefully, one would imagine. The longer answer comes from the photographer.

Wrote Gauthier in an e-mail, "Photographers often will set up remote cameras to create a more diverse set of images.  That was the case Saturday, March 15, at the final game between UCLA and Stanford.  I was especially interested in getting a photo of UCLA center Kevin Love battling with Stanford twin brothers Brook and Robin Lopez.

"The photo that ran on Sunday’s Sports page was taken with a remote camera mounted high above the court in the rafters of Staples Center. Using heavy-duty clamps and cables, the camera is attached to a catwalk railing, framing the image to include players jostling under one of the baskets. A radio receiver is hooked up to the camera, enabling me to trigger it from my position on the floor."

The photographer needs two cameras on the floor as well. For action at the other end of the court, he uses a 300 mm, a long lens. Meanwhile, he's stationed by the rigged-up hoop, and the camera he uses at ground level there has a radio transmitter attached: "Whenever I shoot a frame with this camera, it makes radio contact with the hanging camera, setting off the motor drive."

From Iraq: "Freedom is really expensive"

Foreign Editor Marjorie Miller sent a note to The Times' staffers in Iraq on the fifth anniversary of the start of the war. What follows is her letter to Salar Jaff, thanking the Iraqi staff members for working under dangerous conditions, and Jaff's response.

Dear Salar and the rest of the Iraqi Staff,

On the 5th anniversary of the U.S. invasion, I wanted to make sure that all of the Iraqis on our staff know how grateful we are for the hard and dangerous work you do for us every day. Please make sure to give our thanks to one and all, in the bureau and out in the hinterland. Whether you're providing translation, reporting, computer support, security, driving, paying bills or even cooking, you are providing essential services and without you we would not have been able to provide our readers with the thousands of smart and human stories we have published in the last five years.