The Washington Post is about to cut its ombudsman, according to its ombudsman.

In the latest, lamentable sign of the diminishing of America’s great daily newspapers, Patrick Pexton wrote this weekend that he is likely to be the last reader representative for the paper when his two-year term ends on Feb. 28.

He writes that the Post’s new editor Marty Baron signaled this decision in a recent meeting: “If so, that will end nearly 43 years of this publication having enough courage and...

The life of an artist is full of surprises, and none has been bigger for French actress Emanuelle Riva than the one that has come late in life. The response has been overwhelming to her performance in this year’s meditative “Amour,” which brought her the first Oscar nomination of her career -- and makes her the oldest Best Actress nominee ever, at 85.

Riva was best known previously for her role in the 1959 French New Wave classic, “Hiroshima Mon Amour,” directed by Alain Resnais. In Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” she plays a wife declining inexorably toward death, losing her physical and intellectual grasp.

Also read...

At the first all-hands staff meeting called by CNN’s new CEO Jeff Zucker last month, a newsroom staffer asked if CNN would continue the same budgeting practices that discourage editors from assigning reported stories.

Zucker said he’d look into it. But the next questioner circled back to the same issue, and then a third one did, too.

What’s the issue?

At CNN, when editors assign stories to reporters and producers, the budgeting process requires them to count the employees' salaries against their newsroom budgets. The result is that editors often choose to save money by passing on the story pitch -- or by taking the same idea but using guest talking heads instead.

...

I am pleased to share that I have joined the board of the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), an organization dedicated to supporting the work of women journalists around the world.

I have admired this organization for years, which is why I am so excited to become part of it. By recognizing the work of courageous women journalists around the world, the IWMF provides vital protection to women journalists who challenge their governments, expose corruption and bravely speak for...