Reporting Complex Issues

Last week, I wrote some praise for my local newspaper, the San Diego Union-Tribune, “Appreciation of a Not-NYT’s Newspaper.” This led to a friendly email conversation with the newspaper’s new ombudsman, Carol Goodhue, who recently replaced retired former ombudsman Gina Lubrano. I’d critiqued Ms. Lubrano, second in my series on prominent ombudsmen, for spotty follow-through as a “readers representative,” exampling the newspaper’s unresearched acceptance of a CAIR press release.

Today, Ms. Goodhue’s column demonstrates what happens when an ombudsman does some research. The Associated Press wire story, widely disseminated, is found wanting, and AP as usual doesn’t deign to correct it. The organization misinterpreted, says none other than a leading representative of the Catholic Church, reflects it needs to possibly do a better job of communicating in order to avoid agenda-driven media misinterpretation.

The San Diego Union-Tribune ran the Associated Press’ account of a Papal statement, “Pope affirms Catholicism as only way to salvation.” A reader said the AP story is wrong and pointed Ms. Goodhue at a Vatican website. The newspaper’s religion editor agreed the AP story was off, “it left open the possibility of salvation for people in church communities outside the Catholic Church.” However, Ms. Goodhue writes, “the Associated Press had decided the story didn’t need a correction. I was on my own.”

Ms. Goodhue then spoke with the executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs, who examined the source document line by line with her. “He said it would have been better to report that the document says that Catholicism provides ‘the truest path' rather than ‘the only true path’ to salvation." He added, “We’ve come to expect that these documents get misinterpreted, and maybe this poses a challenge to the Vatican on how these documents are released.”

My question is, why didn’t the AP do what Ms. Goodhue did, examine the document in depth with someone knowledgeable, instead of running with overwrought reactions? Theology is a complex matter, G-d knows! As are many other issues too quickly subject to agenda journalism. Readers deserve better, and Ms. Goodhue delivers.

I'm neither a theologian nor Catholic, and would have benefited if the AP had delivered better reporting that we depend upon. I'm sure that Ms. Goodhue and I will have occasion to disagree in the future but, at least, she appears thus far to be a "readers representative."