Unclear on the Concept of "Ombudsman"

The ombudsman of a newspaper--say, Deborah Howell of the Washington Post--is supposed to work for the newspaper's readers. Deborah Howell tells the Post's readers that she has no comment on the Ben Domenech affair because "The Washington Post has not hired him. The website has. The two are under totally different management. He will not be working for the newspaper. If you want to complain to the right person, try executive.editor@wpni.com."

But if you're not a reader of the Post talking to your representative, the ombudsman, you get a different story from Deborah Howell:

The (brief) life and (quick) death of a blog: Washingtonpost.com hired GOP operative Ben Domenech, a 24-year-old wonder boy with virtually no journalism background, to add an explicitly conservative voice.... It turns out there were strong indications that he was a serial plagiarizer. He resigned... and Post officials said he would have been fired had he not resigned.

It just happens that former Pioneer Press editor Deborah Howell, now the Post's ombudsman, was in our newsroom today for a Q&A session on journalism topics. I asked her about the Domenech affair. Her reply: "I can't defend it. It's a f**in' disaster."

Comments

[theorajones]

Sorry, this is the same Deborah Howell who had jurisdiction to critique the Washington Post online when the complainants were Republican political operatives who were ticked off at Froomkin's coverage?

It's an interesting sort of ombudsman who is non-responsive to the readers and terribly responsive to the powers that be.

[elliottg]

Deborah Howell simply does not understand the role of ombudsman. She is a newspaper editor through and through and views her job as defending the paper against attack. When the attacks are from the right, she tries to protect the WP by bowing and apologizing. When the attacks are from the left, she tries to protect the WP by stonewalling and spinning. This may be a function of her politics although I would guess she votes Democratic like most journalists; it's more likely a function of what she feels is necessary to protect the paper given her perception of Washington power dynamics and the wishes of her boss, Donald Graham. Lost totally to her is that she is supposed to be independently representing the readership without regard to how it impacts the paper.

[Kathleen]

"fucking disaster" eh? guess her tender ears aren't that sensitive after all....

[mrjauk]

"Deborah Howell simply does not understand the role of ombudsman."

But Ms. Howell, like many of her ilk, certainly understands what it takes to continue to afford her lifestyle. If it means the partial sullying of a once-proud institution, so be it. There may be a kid's college-education or two to pay for now, or in the future.

[Charles]

As those who have worked in the upper reaches of the corporate world know, this is not a matter of personalities. The only person whose personality matters is at the very top of the ladder: Don Graham.

Don Graham has systematically sabotaged The Washington Post, turning it first over to the Clinton Wars, then to serve the Iraq War effort, and now-- the feet of clay for Nebuchadnezzar's statue-- affirmative action hires for otherwise unemployable children of Republican hacks.

Heaven knows the people at lower levels are awful. Maria Arana, who assigns books written by liberals to be reviewed by people mentioned unfavorably in the text. Ken Starr's public relations officer, Susan Schmidt. Fred Hiatt. Jim Brady. Deborah Howell.

Bleah.

Compare that list with Katherine Graham's legacy: Woodstein, Bradlee, and Overholser (who may have joined later, but was hired because of what Kay Graham had done for The Post). This is Overholser as described by Jay Rosen (9/10/03):

"Geneva Overholser, former ombudsman at the Washington Post, former editor of the Des Moines Register, and a former Times-woman herself, argues for a Washington Post-style system, which has extra insulation. The ombudsman is an independent in-house critic, hired on a contract basis to eliminate salary negotiations. She does not report to the editor. She is given ready access to the publisher. She has a regular column in a visible place and she is guaranteed space when events warrant."

So... can we see a few minor distinctions between the old regime and the new?

[Hedley Lamarr]

Rubbing Howell's nose in the Domenech affair will issue few dividends.

[ogmb]

Deborah Howell is a fucking disaster. She clearly has no concept of what an ombudsman should do. Which makes me wonder if she got her job by working for the Bush-Cheney campaign.

[Cranky Observer]

> She clearly has no concept of what an
> ombudsman should do.

On the contrary, I think she knows exactly what Washington Post management and ownership wants her to do, and she is doing it.

Cranky

[RT]

Howell's predecessor was actually pretty good. Can't remember the person's name, but this was fairly recent - at the same time as the NY Times ombudsman was an incredible hack who saw his purpose as defending the paper against its critics.

Now they've got a decent ombudsman, and we Washingtonians have to put up with the hack.

Case in point: just yesterday, Howell's column responded to the complaints that the press was hiding the 'good news' from Iraq. While she at least defended the WaPo against this charge, who the heck was this complaint coming from? The Post readership? Possibly, to some minor extent. But mostly, it was an organized effort by the Administration and the GOP, and everyone paying attention knew that well before Howell's column went to press.

So once again, the ombudsman thinks her job is to respond to GOP hacks, rather than to Washington Post readers.

Her 3/26 column: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/24/AR2006032401327.html

[Howard]

Cranky, i'm part of washington post ownership (through my berkshire hathaway holdings) and i sure as hell don't want her to do this.

i think you mean managment and "family" ownership, doncha?

[ogmb]

> On the contrary, I think she knows exactly what Washington Post management and ownership wants her to do, and she is doing it.

The title for that kind of job includes the words "bend-over" but not "ombuds".

[Vadranor]

Howell's predecessor was Michael Getler. He is currently the Ombudsman at PBS.

[Barry]

"Rubbing Howell's nose in the Domenech affair will issue few dividends."

Posted by: Hedley Lamarr

Well, let's see. Rub his nose in it until there's no nose there, and see what happens.