At a time when the number of news ombudsmen is dropping in some Western countries, their ranks are increasing elsewhere, most notably Latin America. According to a new report “Giving the Public a Say: How news ombudsmen ensure accountability, build trust and add value to media organisations,” this growth reflects a belief in young or fragile democracies that strong media play a critical role in development.

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Encouraging readers to post online comments allows news media to connect with audiences, but the comments are too often uncivil, hateful, obscene or downright insulting. Moderating online conversations is an enormous task for news media. A new guide can help.

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On Wednesday 21 August, in the hours following the alleged chemical attack in the suburbs of Damascus, YouTube and Facebook were awash with videos footage and photographs reportedly documenting the event. The problem encountered by news agencies, faced with a wealth of supposed visual evidence, was how to verify the authenticity of these images. 

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Mobile video news service NowThisNews is attempting to make information sharing even more social with a first of its kind 24/7 news channel on Instagram. Harnessing the Facebook-owned social media site’s new 15-second video offering, rolled out in June to compete with Twitter’s Vine, NTN aims to tap into Instagram’s 130 million-strong user base by delivering “breaking videos and news content ranging from the latest fashion show to the political statement dominating the news cycle”. Yet while the experiment is certainly interesting, questions nonetheless remain as to the value that seconds-long video footage can add to news reporting. 

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