Ombudsman Operating Manual
Ken A. Bode
June 13, 2005
In April, when the Corporation for Public Broadcasting authorized the creation of the Office of Ombudsmen, there was no office, no staff, no website, no caller response line and no ombudsmen.
Bill Schultz and Ken Bode were named as ombudsmen. We now have a website and call-in line for the viewers of PBS and listeners to NPR to contact the ombudsmen, ask their questions and express their opinions.
In these few weeks, we have deferred many questions from the audience and the media in order to get ourselves established and organized. Anyone who has broken in a new website understands that there are technological problems and delays along the way.
Also, Schultz and Bode felt that we should figure out how to do the job before we spent a lot of time talking about it. On the theory that every new ombudsman has a first day on the job, we decided to talk to others who have held the position, both for print and broadcast outlets, and to read their postings and reflections on how they operate.
Daniel Okrent, the retiring public editor of The New York Times reflected on his early months to the Columbia Journalism Review:
"No one knew the rules. No one knew the consequences. I had no shoes to fill. We were all groping our way into very sensitive and difficult territory."
Jeffrey Dvorkin, the ombudsman at NPR told Bode that it took him at least six months before he really knew what he was doing.
Bode and Schultz are in the same position at CPB: No Precedents. On the assumption that every ship is entitled to a shake-down cruise, we will continue to work deliberately and carefully in the weeks ahead, and mostly quietly.
We do want to use this posting, however, to answer some of the questions that have come to us from the audience on the Ombudsman Website and from various media reporters.
Why Are There Two Ombudsmen?
This question came from a number of media sources.
The essential answer is that the CPB board created the office that way.
It is true that this may be a unique arrangement, but the reasoning was that challenges to journalist's fairness, balance, accuracy and professionalism should not be judged from one point of view. CPB named two ombudsmen from quite different professional backgrounds to assure more accessibility, accountability and to address audience comments and concerns.
Schultz and Bode bring different journalistic credentials to the job.
Schultz was an editor for The Reader's Digest for more than 20 years. He commissioned and edited nearly 2,000 articles. Bode, who began as politics editor for The New Republic, then went on to NBC News, CNN and PBS, has 30+ years experience in broadcast journalism. He was also dean of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. More complete bios for both are on the Ombudsmen website.
Their job is to respond to viewer concerns and judge programming by the essential standards of accuracy, fairness, balance and objectivity. Their different experience may led them to different conclusions from time to time. If so, that will be transparent on our website.
How will you report?
Our job is to encourage public dialogue aimed at achieving high standards of excellence and balance in public broadcasting.
Our reports will be exclusively on the CPB Ombudsman website. When possible, we will report jointly on a program or on questions raised by the audience. In these, we may issue concurring or dissenting views.
Each ombudsman may also report individually. This might be in response to viewer or media questions or in dealing with a broad or complicated subject, such as "balance."
When will you review programming, before or following broadcast?
There will never be an occasion for the ombudsmen to review a program or contact a producer before a broadcast. That is specifically addressed in the Charter on the Ombudsman website:
"The ombudsmen will confine their writing to material that has been broadcast on the public airwaves and will not engage in pre-broadcast commentaries."
Most often any review or comment by the ombudsmen will be in response to viewer or listener opinions.
Viewer Jill Raitt of Missouri advised: "Let us use our own minds to determine whether commentaries are to our liking or not, but don't censor them!" We agree.
Bill Moyers asked if we would be contacting producers while their programs are still in preparation. The answer is no. After broadcast, however, we may forward viewer and listener comments to producers or correspondents inviting their reply, which will be entirely voluntary.
CPB says you will be independent observers of public broadcasting. Are you really independent?
Each of us has a two year contract. All decisions to review programming — and all reports on broadcasts — will be made by the ombudsmen. We have it in writing. We can be terminated, but only for non-performance.
As for whether we are really independent — watch and judge for yourself.