With Michael R. Bloomberg elected mayor of New York City, The New York Observer reported that Bloomberg News was considering hiring an ombudsman to provide its staff and readers with an independent perspective on the news service's coverage of its founder and former leader. "Of all of the things I've heard, it's one of the best," said Bloomberg News Editor in Chief Matthew Winkler in the Observer in reference to the creation of an ombudsman position to monitor potential conflicts.
Mayor Bloomberg still owns 72 percent of Bloomberg, L.P., the privately held parent company for his media empire. Deepening the pool of possible conflicts, financial industry giant (and potential provider of services to New York City) Merrill Lynch owns another 20 percent. According to the Jan. 6 New York Times, the city's Conflict of Interest Board is scheduled to rule shortly on how Bloomberg's holdings -- worth more than a billion dollars -- should now be managed. The board's options range from recommending no changes to requiring a sale of the mayor's equity stake. The Times reported that Bloomberg has agreed to comply with the board's decision.
In contrast, The Daily Tar Heel's search for a new ombudsman for this semester managed to elude any media notice.
Its quest began in November, when my predecessor, Josh Myerov, sent an e-mail to the School of Journalism and Mass Communication's graduate listserv announcing that the position would be open in the spring. Myerov, a colleague of mine in the school's master's program, indicated that he was the only person to seek the job last year. Quickly discerning that those are the sort of employment odds that favor even me, I signed up for an interview.
During my visit to the DTH offices, I submitted a r
