ONO
News ombudsmen from around the world are to gather in Oxford in May to discuss their role in a digital age.

The Organisation of News Ombudsmen (ONO) will hold its annual conference from 12-15 May, at the Reuters Institute, Oxford University

Among the speakers are POLIS director Charlie Beckett; Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger and Dr David Levy, director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

One of the UK's few ombudsmen is ONO's chair, Stephen Pritchard, readers' editor of the Observer. The Times also has a feedback editor, Sally Baker; and the Guardian recently appointed its outgoing managing editor Chris Elliott as its new readers' editor to replace Siobhain Butterworth.

But ombudsmen are far more common in the US and Canada, for example.

Director of ONO, Jeffrey Dvorkin said the ONO conference in Oxford promises to be "both lively and challenging".

"ONO, like the media organisations and the public we serve, is also looking at the rapidly evolving landscape and our role in it," Dvorkin told Journalism.co.uk. 

"We need to assess how best we can serve in the role of ombudsman or readers' editor at a time when the concept of 'journalistic gatekeeper' has been rendered somewhat obsolete by the internet.

"So we are going to be asking ourselves some tough questions: can ombudsmen help bridge the gap(s) among media organisations, journalists and the public?

"Can bloggers - aka freelance media critics - be ombudsmen? Can and should ONO set standards for digital media? Can ONO offer its 'good offices' to media organisations without ombudsmen to resolve disputes?

"Not surprisingly, we at ONO think our members are uniquely positioned to aid in this process and we are eager to move ahead in all these areas."

The UK Press Complaints Commission will also be sending a representative, William Gore, its public affairs director.
 
"Media self-regulation appears in several forms, of which press councils (like the PCC) and ombudsmen are perhaps the best-known," Gore told Journalism.co.uk.

"Learning from - and exchanging ideas with - other press councils and ombudsmen is vital to our ongoing efforts to improving the services we offer to the public. 

"I'm looking forward to this year's ONO conference as a chance to discuss how our relationship with news ombudsmen can be developed."
 
Read the provisional ONO conference agenda at this link.

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