Determines whether the public knows of the newspaper ombudsman's role, and probes the effects of calling a newspaper on public perceptions of the newspaper's interest in accuracy and correcting errors. Finds that people who call the ombudsman are satisfied with the response to their complaint. (RS)

Suggests the position of ombudsman is one that newspapers might create with internal success and acceptance from the other staff members. (RB)

A survey of 132 newspaper publishers revealed that only 15 percent had a full-time ombudsman on the staff but that there appeared to have been a broadening and strengthening of ombudsmen's responsibilities between 1967 and 1977. (GT)

A study examined (1) whether the public knows of the newspaper ombudsman and his or her role at the newspaper, and (2) probed the effects of calling a newspaper on public perceptions of the newspaper's interest in accuracy and correcting errors. Two telephone questionnaires were completed by 152 of the 438 persons who had contacted the ombudsman…

Interviews with ombudsmen at 18 of the 22 United States daily newspapers that have ombudsmen programs reveal that programs were created for a variety of reasons: to raise the confidence of the reading public in newspapers, to help readers understand the intricacies involved in creating and maintaining the press, and to provide access to the press…

In a case study involving the St. Petersburg, Florida, "Times" and "Independent," two questions were asked: How is the newspaper ombudsman perceived by the other members of the staff, including both management and nonmanagement? and How do opinions about the ombudsman differ, if at all, between a newspaper staff which has an…

A study was conducted to determine how readers regard the accountability of newspapers that employ ombudsmen. Subjects were 393 readers of Kentucky's "Louisville Times" and "Courier Journal." Both papers, the first American papers to hire ombudsmen, publicize the existence of the ombudsman in a daily column, and from 1974 to…

During the 1960s, efforts to improve fairness, accuracy, quality, and responsiveness led to the introduction of ombudsmen on many American newspaper staffs. Representatives for readers' complaints and in-house critics of their own paper's performance, ombudsmen frequently use columns, internal memoranda, staff contacts, questionnaires, and…

This book deals with methods that individuals use to feed information and opinions back to mass communication systems. Typical examples of mass media and "information centers" were used to study feedback and environmental adjustment. Specifically, the feedback channels investigated are letters to the editor in newspapers, the urban newspaper…

The Newspaper section of the Proceedings contains the following 14 papers: "Caught in the Web: Newspaper Use of the Internet and Other Online Resources" (Bruce Garrison); "'Powerful' Attributive Verbs and 'Body Language' Statements Revisited" (Sherrie L. Wilson); "Community Journalism at Work: Newspapers Putting More…