Cyberspaces First Ombudsman

(Adapted from an article in Online Journalism Review by J.D. Lasica)

Cyberspaces First Ombudsman

The most popular news site in the world is apparently MSNBC. And it has now become the first of its genre of sites to appoint an ombudsman. According to its editor in chief Merrill Brown, the organization wanted to send out the message that it takes its journalism seriously.

So in April it appointed Dan Fisher who worked 27 years at the Los Angeles Times as a reporter, editor and bureau chief in Moscow, London, Warsaw and Jerusalem, to the job. Fisher has also served five years as editor-in-chief of the MSN MoneyCentral Web site.

His dual roles are to serve as a readers representative and as an internal critic interacting with the site¿s staff, all with an eye toward improving the news operation¿s journalism. He writes a column that appears on the site every week or so, and no one can change its content without his assent.

Fisher¿s first column appeared May 2 and tackled the subject of whether MSNBC was biased in its selection of opinion columnists commenting on President Bush¿s first 100 days in office. (His conclusion? The site should haveheld off publishing a critical piece until a companion column from aconservative point of view was available.)

Overwhelmingly, the appearance of political bias is the No. 1 concern that users have expressed in the roughly 600-700 e-mails Fisher has received to date. He says his colleagues tell him that perceived bias, real or imagined, in the political arena is by far the top complaint of readers. Fisher has joined the 50-member Organization of News Ombudsmen, which consists of reader representatives in print, broadcast - and now one online outfit.

The top concerns expressed by online users - about balanced reporting, accuracy and fairness - frankly surprised Fisher. "One reason I was intrigued by the job offer was that online media should raise some different kinds of questions than what one would see in traditional media," he says. "And there¿s some element of that. I¿m working on a piece now that has to do with live votes on the site, something that wouldn¿t come up in print. But I¿ve been surprised that the issues so far haven¿t been all that different."

Fisher is on contract with MSNBC, but he¿s an independent free agent and free to cross swords with the company¿s powers that be. He works out of his home, a 20-minute commute to the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Wash., where he drops in a couple of times a week to talk with staffers, use the office facilities and check the voluminous e-mail the site receives from its 9 million monthly visitors.

In a June 13 column, Distinguishing opinion from news, he took the site to task for not being more painstaking in separating news and opinion links on its home page. The second tier of complaints has to do with typographical, grammatical and factual errors, he says. "Other comments range all over the map, from complaints about popup ads to responses to topics in the news, like protecting the privacy of the Bush girls." What sort of differences will cyberspace journalism throw up for an ombudsman?

Fisher thinks speed will be one issue that will crop up on his watch. "The stories in MSNBC may change 10-15 times in the course of a day, and some of the early versions are pretty sketchy. You and I may be used to that kind of updating that you see from the wire services or from radio news, but I¿m not sure how readers will react if they see those incomplete reports and they only check in once a week."

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