Someone to Talk to   

Newspaper and magazine readers express their opinions in letters to the editor and calls to ombudsmen, but TV watchers usually aren't afforded the same type of opportunity. Not true at Tucson's KGUN9. Viewers of that Arizona station know just whom to call when they have a problem: Heylie Eigen, the station's viewer representative.

Eigen receives calls and e-mail messages from people commenting on KGUN's coverage and compiles their remarks into a weekly two-to-three-minute segment on viewer feedback.

"I think people know we're going to listen," says Eigen, 32, "and they'll tune in."

The viewer ombudsman program began in April 1999 under the direction of News Director Forrest Carr, who joined the station in 1997 after leaving Tampa's WFLA.

KGUN viewers had reacted negatively to segments on the death of Linda McCartney, the wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney. McCartney passed away in April 1998 in Tucson after a bout with breast cancer.

After viewers pleaded with reporters to leave the McCartney family alone, Carr says he and others at KGUN decided not to show pictures of the ranch where Linda McCartney died. Viewer feedback soon turned positive.

"That dialogue I found to be very worthwhile and almost inspiring, and we wanted to keep that dialogue going," Carr says.

So KGUN created a Viewer Bill of Rights--a set of ethical standards--and asked Eigen, a producer at the time, to also take on the role of viewer representative.

KGUN has made numerous changes because of audience feedback. The station won't show body bags anymore, and reporters try to focus more on what Carr calls "solution-oriented" journalism.

Bob Steele, director of the ethics program at the Poynter Institute, says he applauds KGUN's efforts. While about 40 newspapers have ombudsmen, Steele says he knows of only two local news stations that have them: KGUN and WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, which began its program in the fall of 1997.

Carr says he initially received a fair amount of criticism from other journalists, who thought he was letting the public run his newsroom. "Being open to public feedback is not the same as turning over the newsroom," Carr says. "You're bringing in more voices to the newsroom. But you still have to do your duty."