News & Observer | newsobserver.com | Columns by Ted Vaden

Columns by Ted Vaden

Add to My Yahoo! 
Have an Opinion?
Participate in the N&O Reader Advisory Panel.
Find out more.

Read Ted Vaden's Readers' Corner blog
Ted Vaden

Ted Vaden, the N&O public editor, serves as the readers' advocate within the paper. Ted has been with The N&O since 1977, most recently as editor and publisher of The Chapel Hill News. Contact Ted at 836-5700 or ted.vaden@newsobserver.com



Readers react to change at the paper

For a time, a notice was posted in The News & Observer newsroom that said: "Change is good; you go first."

Updated: Jul. 6, 2008 2:03 AM | Full story

Gitmo series disturbs, impresses readers

The recent McClatchy series on Guantanamo detainees that ran in The News & Observer brought some strong reaction from readers.

Updated: Jun. 29, 2008 1:05 AM | Full story

Changes ahead in slimmer N&O

There's no getting around it: The job cuts and other changes announced by The News & Observer last week mean that readers will be getting less.

Updated: Jun. 22, 2008 5:39 AM | Full story

Why see Carson's autopsy report?

Why does The News & Observer need to see Eve Carson's autopsy report? That was the question from several readers last week after they read stories about the paper's lawsuit to obtain the official autopsy report on the slain UNC student body

Updated: Jun. 15, 2008 2:04 AM | Full story

Budget stories don't tell the full story

It's budget season for local governments around the Triangle, and that's a challenge for any newspaper. In my old newsrooms, we used to refer to budget stories as "DBIs" -- dull but important.

Updated: Jun. 8, 2008 5:13 AM | Full story

Child abuse trial brings out worst online

The ongoing soap opera that is the Lynn Paddock trial illustrates a divergence in the standards of journalism as practiced in print and online.

Updated: Jun. 1, 2008 2:02 AM | Full story

A shift from Eastern North Carolina

A signal moment in The News & Observer's history passed quietly this month. Jerry Allegood, Eastern North Carolina correspondent for the last 35 years, took retirement.

Updated: May. 25, 2008 6:36 AM | Full story

The name game for immigrants

What should newspapers call people from other countries who entered the United States in violation of federal immigration and nationality law?

Updated: May. 18, 2008 2:02 AM | Full story

Grading online election reporting

The North Carolina primary was a big test for the Democratic presidential candidates -- as well as for all the state and local candidates down the ballot.

Updated: May. 11, 2008 1:45 AM | Full story

Political potpourri: polls, endorsements

Barack Obama is ahead of Hillary Clinton in North Carolina by 12 points. No, it's 5 points. Wait, now the lead is 14 points.

Updated: May. 4, 2008 2:25 AM | Full story

College Inn story riles Wolfpack fans

April 19 was a big day for N.C. State football fans. It was the day of the Red-White game to show off next season's team. But for many, the day got off to a bad start when they picked up their morning copy of The N&O.

Updated: Apr. 27, 2008 5:05 AM | Full story

Tawdry tales about e-mails

The News & Observer's front page became an inbox last week for sensational stories about e-mail.

Updated: Apr. 20, 2008 1:42 AM | Full story

More questions about the lacrosse story

The calls and e-mails started pouring in within hours of the DNA report last Monday. The words differed, but the message was the same: When is The News & Observer going to 'fess up that it got the Duke sexual assault story wrong?

Updated: Apr. 18, 2006 7:53 AM | Full story

Searching for fairness in the Duke story

Outrage" has been the operative word to describe community sentiment in Durham in the past week. And justifiably so, if the allegations against members of the Duke men's lacrosse team are even close to true.

Updated: Apr. 2, 2006 6:04 AM | Full story

Will newspapers outlast Social Security?

Philip Meyer is a newspaperman who thinks he can measure anything.

Updated: Oct. 23, 2005 3:25 PM | Full story

Errors gnaw at newspaper credibility

Aaaarrrrgh! That was the sound you heard Tuesday from the editors' offices on the third floor of The News & Observer building. Maybe it echoed around some readers' kitchen tables that morning too, as folks read the seven corrections.

Updated: Oct. 23, 2005 4:58 PM | Full story

Taunting coverage angers State fans

An ugly incident at the N.C. State-Wake Forest game prompted an even uglier public debate last week about journalism as practiced at The News & Observer. Let's talk about it.

Updated: Oct. 24, 2005 1:59 PM | Full story

'Anonymice' menace papers' credibility

Rare is the week that this public editor doesn't receive a complaint that The News & Observer has ignored an important news story.

Updated: Oct. 24, 2005 1:42 AM | Full story

News columnists anger, attract readers

The News & Observer's news columnists have been getting under readers' skins lately. That's good.

Updated: Oct. 22, 2005 5:23 PM | Full story

Bloggers challenge traditional media

Got a call the other day from a reader wanting to know why The News & Observer had downplayed the resignation of CNN news chief Eason Jordan. Jordan, you'll recall, stirred controversy with his reported assertion that the U.S. military had deliberate

Updated: Oct. 22, 2005 3:54 PM | Full story
Advertisements

Member of the
Real Cities Network

A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company