The Impact of Newspaper Ombudsmen on Journalists' Attitudes

Abstract

This article explores how one of the principal mechanisms of media accountability — press ombudsmen — affects journalists. The article uses data from a national survey of journalists to examine the extent to which journalists who work at newspapers with ombudsmen hold different attitudes about appropriate behavior and about their newspaper's performance than do journalists who work at newspapers without ombudsmen. The study shows that the presence of newspaper ombudsmen does not affect journalists' views of controversial newsgathering techniques. Age turns out to be the best predictor of attitudes, with younger journalists more likely to see controversial news-gathering techniques as justified.