Lots of newspapers have them, so does NPR. Now, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has ombudsmen.
They are the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's answer to questions about programming balance. CPB has created two such positions and appointed former NBC reporter Ken Bode and former Reader's Digest executive editor William Schulz.
Congress has asked CPB to protect the production of public broadcasting from undue interference and to ensure that it represents high standards in accuracy, balance and objectivity, said CPB President/CEO Kathleen Cox. She characterized the ombudsman role as a tested way to support those objectives.
A CPB spokeswoman told Radio World Online that Bode and Schulz will initiate their own reports and respond to the public, government officials and the public broadcasting community. CPB created the jobs to promote public dialogue on issues of balance and accountability on public radio and television, she added.
In a statement, CPB Chairman Ken Tomlinson emphasized that CPB would not allow concerns over balance to force the group to practice "pre-broadcast censorship or post-broadcast penalties of public broadcasters."
(Radio World)
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