The most principled editor or reporter in the world simply does not have the benefit of that kind of distance. The ombudsman is the newspaper's hired conscience. The ombudsman's territory is, by my definition, journalism ethics. To my way of thinking, the standards and ideals of American journalism all fall under one overriding ethical obligation. I am obsessed with journalism ethics, so when I evaluate the paper, I do it through an ethical lens.
Some decisions have a stronger ethical component than others.
The newspaper can cause great good and great harm, and everything the newspaper does affects other people. As much as anything else, I want to help journalists examine the ethical dimension of all their decisions. And I also want to look at the consequences of the decision. I sometimes think I act as the ethics police. Internally, and with individuals on the staff, I constantly raise what I think are ethical issues.