Mass. Weekly Hires Ombudsman to Monitor Coverage of Publisher's Wife's Candidacy

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That Mass. Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry (D-Dorchester) would pursue the seat vacated by State Sen. Jack Hart in a special election slated for May 28, following an April 30 primary vote, is not unusual, as the Bay State is not wanting for ambitious politicians.

What adds some zest to the race is that Rep. Forry's spouse, Bill Forry, is editor and publisher, and her father-in-law, Ed Forry, assistant publisher of the weekly Dorchester Record. To derail any potential complaints about bias and unfair coverage, the Record has hired Michael Jonas to serve as a temporary ombudsman to monitor the paper's election coverage, the iMediaEthics.org Web site reported.

Jonas, who has never served as an ombudsman before, has a verbal agreement to serve in that capacity at least through the primary, though its unclear whether his time card will continue to be punched if Rep. Forry doesn't best her primary opponents, Nick Collins, Joseph Ureneck and Maureen Dahill in the April run-off.

Bill Forry said carrying an ombudsman full-time is a luxury that a small paper can't afford. When his spouse ran for state rep in a special election in 2004-2005, the Record hired then-Brockton Enterprise reporter Dave Connolly to be a temporary ombudsman, much as Jonas is now.

Of course, the conflict of interest issue concerning journo-politico marital unions doesn't end when the last ballot is counted. The real question is how has the Dorchester Record covered Rep. Forry's nearly eight years in office and would its reporters and editorial writers be balanced in their coverage were she to succeed Sen. Hart?

Gail Huff, a Boston television reporter/anchor, stepped down from her position at WCVB-TV when her husband, Scott Brown, battled Elizabeth Warren in last fall's U.S. Senate race in which Warren prevailed.

Thin paper, thin skin?

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After 43 years, the Washington Post has eliminated the position of ombudsman, but getting to the bottom of why the struggling daily dropped the readers' champion slot requires the services of, er, an ombudsman.

According to an item by The Wrap.com, WaPo Publisher Katherine Weymouth said the paper will replace the position with that of a reader's representative. Unlike the ombudsman, however, the reader's rep will be a WaPo employee and will not write a weekly column about issues of interest to the readership.

Patrick Pexton, whose WaPo ombudsman contract just expired, described the change as a cost-savings measure, which the paper's management has not done.  The Wrap quotes a spokesperson for the Organization of News Ombudsmen (O No?!) who noted that nationwide, 20 members of his group are working as ombudsmen, reader's editors or reader's representatives.

Subscribers can share their concerns at readers@washpost.com beginning this week.

FOIA Own Good

The National Archives last week named attorney Miriam Nisbet to be the first federal ombudsman for the Freedom of Information Act [5 U.S.C., sec. 552] ("FOIA").

Created by the Open Government Act of 2007, the ombudsman position is empowered to mediate disputes between those seeking information pursuant to the FOIA and the government agencies receiving the requests. The ombudsman is also charged with evaluating how agencies comply with FOIA requests and recommending changes to the Congress and the president.

Nisbet, 61, most recently served as Director of the Information Society Division at UNESCO, which entailed issues of global access to information and digital libraries. Previously, she was legislative counsel at the American Library Assn. for eight years, and also worked 16 years at the Dept. of Justice as deputy director of the Office of Information & Privacy.

Nisbet, a graduate of the Univ. of North Carolina Law School, hopes to have the National Archives ombudsman office up and running in September 2009.