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about this cartoon:
Published: Editor & Publisher
Date: May 31, 1997
About this cartoon: The ombudsman (or reader advocate or reader representative) is a position that acts as a middleman between readers and editors, helping resolve problems, raising challenges to stories and helping readers communicate with news execs. Sadly, the number of papers employing ombudsmen is a small one.
Noteworthy: Too many big-paper executives take an elitist and arrogant view of readers, or believe they can deal with public complaints directly; they may offer to, but actually do so far less than they might intend. I wish most major papers had an ombudsman.
