Page is for opinions

Maybe it’s time for an editorial about editorials.

Over the past few weeks, this space has been occupied by an exchange of opinions — a little heated but pretty much civil — by readers responding to things they have read here.

It has been healthy. It has been entertaining. And maybe folks learned a little bit about one another.

What started it was an editorial. So what is, after all, an editorial?

It’s an expression of opinion by the newspaper, kind of an attempt to go beyond a personal opinion expressed in a bylined column to make a broader statement.

As such, it might be written by the editor, the publisher or another member of the newsroom staff. Some larger papers have editorial boards that write such things by consensus or committee.

By tradition, editorials that appear in this newspaper bear the initials of the individual who wrote it. Most American newspapers don’t do that. Many Canadian newspapers do. That’s the way we’ve been doing it here since 1959, and a tradition like that is tough to break.

But no matter who writes it, an editorial is an expression of an opinion.

It is not news. It is not reportage. It is opinion.

Once upon a time, that was a simple distinction.

Nowadays, not so much.

The line between news reporting and opinion has often been blurry. 

In the early years of the American republic, it barely existed at all. 

Newspapers supporting John Adams railed against newspapers supporting Thomas Jefferson, and their news columns allied in lockstep with their opinions.

But from the late 19th century on, as newspapers attempted to establish more professional standards and shed their partisan roles, that changed. 

A conscious effort was made to label clearly what was reportage (news) and what was opinion.

This newspaper continues to follow that philosophy today.

But in the past couple of decades the line between news and opinion has become ever more blurry, and you can’t blame the audience — or readers — if it’s become tough to know where one ends and the other begins.

The 24-hour news cycle deserves part of the blame. With all that time to fill, commentary started to nudge out news.

Cable networks are even more culpable for blurring the distinction, tailoring their “product” for their audience, reinforcing the assumptions and prejudices and biases of their consumers. Fox News is guilty. So is MSNBC.

The result runs the gamut from sloppy journalism to outright propaganda.

That’s a game this newspaper does not want to play.

Here’s our pledge: As much as humanly possible, we’ll do our best to make sure that when readers pick up the paper or check out our website they’ll know instantly what items are news, what items are opinion and what items are paid advertising.

And here’s our wish: That readers like those whose letters have graced these pages in the past several days will continue to express their opinions here. Tell us when you think we’re full of it. Tell us when you think we’re on target.

Freedom of the press provides us with a soapbox to stand on and express our views. Freedom of the press also implies a responsibility to share that soapbox with others.

That, ultimately, is what we are all about. Have at it. — J.R.