Smith was promoted from editor of the Mason City Globe Gazette to her current position in July 2020. She began her career in 1994 as a copy editor in Racine, Wis. Since then, she has worked as an investigative reporter, coach, digital editor, and executive editor in newsrooms in Minnesota, California, Delaware, and New Jersey.
I think the idea behind the creation of a newspaper ombudsman—holding journalists accountable for their words—is more important now than it was when the position was first created in 1967. But we need to update the concept a bit.
One of the issues with a traditional ombudsman is that their work frequently falls into the “too little, too late” category. Writing a column, as most ombudsmen do, taking a paper to task after the publication of a story or ad may help the public feel more confident that fairness and accuracy are being vigilantly monitored, but it does little to improve the internal operations that produced the faulty piece in the first place. That’s where our focus should be.
Every member of a newsroom needs to own their piece of the credibility pie by engaging more with the public and lifting the veil off their internal work processes. Basic examples include hyperlinks in attribution and methodology boxes with data pieces. More complex ones are regularly surveying sources for accuracy after a story publishes, hosting reader advisory panels and opening news meetings to the public. A simple thing the Globe Gazette has done is include a box thanking the tipster when we report a story based on a tip from the public.
And as part of our instant internet reaction world, we should meet the public where they gather—on social media. We don’t have to entertain the trolls, but we should encourage discourse, be proud of the work we do, and be eager to stand behind it.
The best thing we can do to build trust with our community is to reflect it and become part of it. All of us.
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