[Foundation-l] Organization of News Ombudsmen

Fri Jul 21 12:13:59 UTC 2006

Sydney aka FloNight wrote:
> The name ombudsmen is used in the news industy. There is an organization of News Ombudsmen.
> 
> Link below gives a complete description from the organizations web site. 
> http://www.newsombudsmen.org/what.htm
> 
> This is the short version.
> 
> *What is a news ombudsman?
> 
> A news ombudsman receives and investigates complaints from newspaper readers or listeners
or viewers of radio and television stations about accuracy, fairness, 
balance and good taste
in news coverage. He or she recommends appropriate remedies or responses 
to correct or clarify
news reports.*
> 
> I see a Foundation appointed person doing something similar.
Looking at individual serious problems that exist because of fixable 
flaws in the system.
This should keep these same type of problems from reoccuring.
> 
> Regards, 
> Sydney

Uh ?

Wait a moment. The description you give above is the description of ... 
all Wikipedia editors ! We collectively receive the complains and 
investigates the complaints of reader, for accuracy, fairness, balance, 
good taste etc... We receive them in articles themselves, in talk page, 
on mailing lists, on irc, on otrs queue, and as far as I am concerned, 
even by phone. We all do this, so we all are ombuds-wo-man in that sense.

There is no way the Foundation will go into that. This is NOT the 
Foundation business Sydney.

Let me paste here the description I wrote in the resolution. You will 
immediately understand (hopefully :-().

--------

Whereas the board of Trustees of Wikimedia Foundation regularly receives 
some complaints related to abuse of its privacy policy, associated to 
checkuser activity or not.

It is hereby resolved that:

The board creates an "ombudsman commission".

The ombudsman commission will offer a sympathetic ear to those reporting 
an abuse of the Wikimedia Foundation privacy policy on any of Wikimedia 
project.

The ombudsman will take charge of investigating cases of privacy policy 
breach or checkuser abuse for the board in an official manner. He will 
mediate between the complainant and the respondant (checkuser, arbcom 
member, bureaucrat or sysop). When legally necessary, the ombudsman will 
assist the legal commmittee or the legal officer or the executive 
director to handle the case.

When the case is litigious, the ombudsman will be in charge to educate 
checkusers or others about the Foundation privacy policy.
When the privacy policy has been breached, the commission should report 
to the Executive Director and recommand a course of action (such as 
removal of checkuser status).

Additionnaly, the commission might have a sort of "overview" over the 
way the checkuser system works and should offer suggestions of suitable 
modifications of policies or recommandations of software changes.
An Ombudsman's Investigation shall be conducted in a manner determined 
by the Ombudsman and which will be fair and impartial .