Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart: Readers must keep an eye on advertising, as they do with news
EVERY day there are hundreds of photographs and thousands of words. Newspapers really are big – there is a great deal in them. And a fair proportion of that is advertising – how we make our living.
Readers' Ombudsman: Weighty issue is not one newspapers can solve on their own
IT IS a real dilemma for our modern society, and one that newspapers have to play their part in helping to solve.
More top stories
Readers' Ombudsman: Great debates of our time mean balancing opinions, not bias
NEWSPAPERS have a duty to give balanced news reports, but where should balance lie in other parts of the paper?
Ian Stewart: Sense, rather than sensationalism, was this story's intent
SOMETIMES in journalism it is quite easy to get carried away. If a story is playing big in other newspapers and on television, you can get caught up in that wave. The story sort of takes on a tone of its own – it's not mass hysteria, but perhaps mass hype, and it is part of our job to defend against that and not to fall in to the trap.
Readers' Ombudsman: Balancing the right to know with the right not to be offended
NEWSPAPERS can often face the difficult balancing act of giving readers information in such detail that they are left in no doubt as to the facts of a story, and at the same time protecting readers from offensive and disturbing material.
Readers' Ombudsman: On skiing, like any other subject, we always strive for balance
'MESSENGER down, messenger down; suspected gunshot wounds." I received a number of complaints (I have avoided the word avalanche) about a story last week headlined "Skiing is doomed, so enjoy it while it lasts".
Readers' Ombudsman: There's nothing quite like grammar for provoking a response
THERE are a number of readers who keep a very close eye on our grammar. That is a good thing and we are quite happy, in fact probably a wee bit flattered, to be put under such scrutiny.
Readers' Ombudsman: In anyone's language, this has to count as a victory for our readers
ONE of the main reasons for starting this column was to establish a real, open dialogue with readers. However, very often when dealing with complaints, I seem to be simply explaining why things cannot change, or why we do not think they should change, and frankly that gets a bit depressing.
Readers' Ombudsman: A capital question, and one we will let Mr MacDonald decide
IHAVE lived and worked in Scotland for the vast majority of my life and my career as a journalist, and I have never come across this issue before. I have to say it genuinely surprised me. It was raised by Anne Ross, who said that she was "dumbfounded" that The Scotsman was regularly making this mistake. It concerns the spelling of Scottish surnames.
Readers' Ombudsman: Keeping a Page 3 stunner means some small sacrifices elsewhere
IT IS probably not a good thing if we are driving our readers mad, so when we receive a letter saying we are doing exactly that, we sit up and take notice.
Readers' Ombudsman: This is about much more than two men and their vile phone calls
THERE have been suggestions that the furore surrounding Jonathan Ross, Russell Brand and the BBC was simply a vindictive onslaught by the media, envious of Ross's multi-million-pound salary and the middle-class- saturated BBC's protected status.
Readers' Ombudsman: One monarch, two numbers – how history can turn cumbersome
THE e-mail is simply signed Judy Steel, Aikwood Tower, but it is of course from Lady Steel, wife of Sir David Steel – Baron Steel of Aikwood. Sir David is the former presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament and former leader of the Liberal Party.
Readers' Ombudsman: Was this style over substance – or at least something similar to it?
SOMETIMES, when old-fashioned newspaper hacks like me gather in darkened corners to reminisce and take stock of our present-day business, there are mutterings about "the tyranny of design". The phrase is delivered in the manner of Billy Bones saying, "the curse of the black spot", and the response is always a muted, "It's never just about the words any more". Yes, it probably is a bit sad, and there are more important things in the world, but at least it shows we care
Readers' Ombudsman: Nazi links of alleged plotters in United States cannot be denied
THERE is an expression: if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are it’s a duck.
Readers' Ombudsman: Striving for accuracy while performing a miracle every day
THIS week's theme, it would appear from my cyber-mailbag, is accuracy. And I'm probably going to end up saying something I shouldn't.
Readers' Ombudsman: Look on the bright side of page 3 – in terms of colour and content
SOMETIMES we forget to question the way we do things. We just carry on doing what we do in the accepted orthodoxy. Luckily, we have readers who question the way we do things. Jenny MacLaren wrote in to give some feedback on the changes we have made to the paper, and brought up an issue that is in the changed paper but was also a feature of the paper before the revamp.
Readers' Ombudsman: This 'war' of words may offend but it is now a norm in language
NEWSPAPERS have a role in society that requires them to be responsible and to be seen to be responsible, probably as much as any big corporation. In terms of use of language, newspapers have to have a greater responsibility, in my view. We take words and their use seriously.
Readers' Ombudsman: Lack of clarity over author was a blow to the paper’s authority
THERE may be a couple of defences left open to us after a complaint from Robert Miller-Bakewell, but neither of them are very convincing. The fact is we made quite a serious error. We have to be seen to be above questions of partiality or deference to powerful factions, and in this case we were not.
Readers' ombudsman : As you can see, we've had a bit of a makeover – hope you like it
TRICKY business, change. A widely held view is that people don't like change and are resistant to it. It alters comfort zones and people can feel like they are losing something they have become familiar with. But it is impossible to improve anything without changing it.
Readers' Ombudsman - When it comes to our journalists, should we always name names?
IF A reader writes a letter to the Editor that criticises one of our journalists by name, should the letter be published as is, or should the name of the journalist be removed?
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Wednesday 15 February 2012
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