Op-ed

An op-ed (originally short for "opposite the editorial page" although often taken to stand for "opinion editorial") is a written prose piece typically published by a newspaper or magazine which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board.[1] Op-eds are different from both editorials (opinion pieces submitted by editorial board members) and letters to the editor (opinion pieces submitted by readers).

Origin

The direct ancestor to the modern op-ed page was created in 1921 by Herbert Bayard Swope of The New York Evening World. When Swope took over as editor in 1920, he realized that the page opposite the editorials was "a catchall for book reviews, society boilerplate, and obituaries".[2] He wrote:

It occurred to me that nothing is more interesting than opinion when opinion is interesting, so I devised a method of cleaning off the page opposite the editorial, which became the most important in America ... and thereon I decided to print opinions, ignoring facts.[3]

Swope included only opinions by employees of his newspaper, leaving the "modern" op-ed page to be developed in 1970 under the direction of The New York Times editor John B. Oakes.[4] The first op-ed page of The New York Times appeared on 21 September 1970.[5] Writes media scholar Michael Socolow of Oakes' innovation:

The Times' effort synthesized various antecedents and editorial visions. Journalistic innovation is usually complex, and typically involves multiple external factors. The Times op-ed page appeared in an era of democratizing cultural and political discourse and of economic distress for the company itself. The newspaper's executives developed a place for outside contributors with space reserved for sale at a premium rate for additional commentaries and other purposes.[6]

Competition from radio and television

Beginning in the 1930s, radio began to threaten print journalism, a process that was later accelerated by the rise of television. To combat this, major newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post began including more openly subjective and opinionated journalism, adding more columns and growing their op-ed pages.[7]

Possible conflicts of interest

A concern about how to clearly disclose the ties in the op-eds arises because the readers of the media cannot be expected to know all about the possible connections between op-eds, editors and interest groups funding some of them. In a letter to The New York Times, the lack of a clear declaration as to conflict of interest in op-eds was criticized by a group of U.S. journalists campaigning for more "op-ed transparency".[8][9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Definition of op-ed". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved June 29, 2010.
  2. ↑ Meyer, K. (1990). Pundits, poets, and wits. New York: Oxford University Press.
  3. ↑ Swope, H. B. as quoted in Meyer, K. (1990). Pundits, poets, and wits. New York: Oxford University Press, p. xxxvii.
  4. ↑ "A press scholar explains how the New York Times op-ed page began". Slate. September 27, 2010. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  5. ↑ Shipley, David (1 February 2004). "And Now a Word From Op-Ed". The New York Times.
  6. ↑ Socolow, Michael J. (2010). "A Profitable Public Sphere: The Creation of the New York Times Op-Ed Page". Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. University of Maine.
  7. ↑ "'Journalism'". Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. 2010. (Registration required (help)).
  8. ↑ "US journalists launch campaign for 'op-ed transparency'". The Guardian. October 11, 2011. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Journos call for more transparency at New York Times op-ed page". Columbia Journalism Review. October 6, 2011. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  • The OpEd Project – "an initiative to expand public debate and to increase the number of women in thought leadership positions."
  • The Do Good Gauge – is a research proposal. The many essays describe the problem or give direction to solution in the inefficiencies of political and social discourse. The website attempts to facilitate public authorship in pursuit of civic virtue.
  • "What we talk about when we talk about editing". The New York Times. July 31, 2005. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.