Earlier this summer, Dan Hirschhorn '07, the editor in chief of the Justice, approached me about being an ombudsman for the paper. Strictly speaking, an ombudsman is a "readers' advocate." She does not advise the writers and editors of the paper; she investigates issues about the paper's reportage that have been brought to her attention by readers. As the new director of Brandeis' journalism program-and a former, full-time reporter myself-I understood why Hirschhorn chose to lay this opportunity at my feet, and so I accepted the challenge. Hirschhorn advised me that it might be "slim pickins"-especially at first-with regard to reader letters, and so he asked that I feel free to issue my own, personal critique of the paper's writing and editorial decisions.

On the whole, I must say I am quite impressed with the amount of original reporting that the students who work for the Justice are able to turn out. The paper certainly has its share of wire-service stories; most newspapers do. But given that the people working for the Justice are-first and foremost-full-time students, the number and even the variety of originally researched articles in the paper is impressive. I understand that in the past, there has been some discussion- both within the greater University community, and among the writers and editors of the Justice-about holes in the newspaper's coverage. I know this issue is on the radar of everyone at the Justice, and I trust that any readers who feel the issue is not being adequately addressed will not hesitate to bring their opinions to the paper's attention.

I was a little disappointed with the lead article in the Sept. 5 edition of the paper. Many things about it smacked of sensationalism: its position on the front page, above the fold; its use of the word "masturbating" in the headline; its lead paragraph, in which law enforcement officials were clearly criticized for not catching a perpetrator whom they had been alerted to just three times over the course of the past year; and finally, the author's decision to use a student quote that- while undoubtedly accurate-was indecorous and added nothing to the story. Had I been the editor of the newspaper- and I am not-I might have chosen to lead with the story about the recent release of a Brandeis alum from a Chinese prison. Hao Wu, who received a Master's from Brandeis in 1995, was detained for 140 days-allegedly because he was working on a documentary about a Protestant church in Beijing that is not recognized by the Chinese government. Readers of the Justice had to wait until page four before they could read about his release.

I was not at all disappointed with the front page of the Aug. 29 edition, however. Indeed, Samantha Monk's '07 article on the University's policy of sharing student information with the alumni association-which then passes it on to a credit card company-was timely, and I applaud Monk for recognizing the news merits of this story. I admit that when I first read the article, I was a bit concerned about her use of some administrative quotes. I worried that the context she gave those quotes was, perhaps, misleading. I therefore asked her about it-and I asked the administrator involved, as well. They both informed me that Monk had reviewed the quotes with the administrator before using them-a practice that, I must say, strikes me as a good personal policy for reporters at the Justice to have.

I do not believe that this should be a formal policy at the paper. I do not believe student-reporters should review every article with the administrators or faculty featured in a story. And I certainly do not believe that the writers at the Justice should be obliged to change their stories on the basis of administrative recommendations. But the fact of the matter is, it is not at all uncommon for reporters who are not students to review portions of their stories with the principle players, in the interests of accuracy. I have done it myself. And the writers at the Justice are still learning, after all. Just as administrators and faculty must remember that when they speak to a student who writes for the Justice, they are speaking to a reporter, the reporters who write for the Justice must remember that they are writing for a college newspaper-and that they are, therefore, still students.

The ombudsman serves as the readers' representative, writing at least once every four issues evaluating the newspaper's journalistic performance. Prof. Maura Farrelly (AMST), the director of the journalism program and a former broadcast reporter for Voice of America, can be reached at farrelly@brandeis.edu.