Editorial pages: Don’t plan the future without them

By Lynnell Burkett

If ever newspaper editors have wished for a crystal ball, surely now is the time as we struggle both to react to the advent of the Internet and incorporate it into the way we do business. We can, however, take hope from a pattern that became familiar during the last century. With the coming of each new medium, existing media reassessed, adjusted their strategy and adapted to the changing world. They did not die.

Radio changed newspapers; television changed both. VCRs did not destroy movie theaters. They provided a new way of leveraging the assets of motion pictures.

Now, with the Internet, once again people are wondering if newspapers, in their present form, will survive. Editors are struggling to adapt to the changing world, with the certain assurance that, in this technologically rapidly changing environment, challenges will keep coming.

So what are our competitive advantages? Actually, there are several. Among them:

As other media fragment, newspapers may emerge as the sole remaining mass medium.

They are an unmatched source of information offering credibility and context.

They remain uniquely capable of providing local information.

They not only place events and complex issues in perspective, they also offer analysis and opinion.

Newspapers offer permanence that other media lack.

They provide a daily ritual, a serendipitous experience, where readers encounter subjects they otherwise would not have sought out.

They provide connections to the community, both helping determine and reflecting the values of the community. A strong newspaper can become, not only a source of news, but also a community in conversation with itself.

Newspaper leaders are aware of these strengths, but with the pressure of daily deadlines, they find little time to reflect on how to capitalize on them.

And with attention focused on that 800-pound gorilla, the newsroom, newspaper leaders often overlook the strategic importance of a smaller asset, the editorial pages (broadly defined as including the op-ed page and Sunday opinion section).

In many newspapers, especially larger ones, the editorial page editor reports to the publisher — keeping distinct the lines between news and opinion — but that does not preclude a healthy respect and productive partnership between news leaders and opinion leaders. And, in newspapers where the editorial page editor reports to the editor, it is, of course, equally important for the editor, usually focused on news, to understand the value to be offered by the opinion section.

First, consider how the editorial pages can exploit many of the competitive advantages of the newspaper. Then, think about what opinion pages can provide that would be inappropriate to the function of the news operation.

Of the seven advantages we’ve listed, the editorial pages play a unique and vital role in at least three of them: (1) Offering credibility and context for information the newspaper provides; (2) Providing analysis and opinion and (3) Fostering connections within the community, helping determine and reflect its values.

Consider the media environment in which people live today. They are overwhelmed with the sheer magnitude and number of events they read or hear about each day. They turn to television channels with round-the-clock news coverage where minor events sound like big news and the trivial becomes important because the network has so much time to fill. Or they go to Internet sites where no rules govern and where truth (as in war) is the casualty. Hatred and vitriol reign unchecked beside falsehood. But computer literacy is not a requirement to find the false and the hateful. Talk radio flourishes virtually unchecked in most communities. In that atmosphere, how are people to determine what’s important and what it means?

Credibility and context

Enter the newspaper — with its unmatched local staff gathering news, coupled with editorial writers and columnists looking for context. At their best, these staffs are individuals who have no hidden agendas, who come from a long tradition of allegiance to gathering and making sense of what is happening in the world. Yet, how many newspapers make their readers aware of these distinctions? How many editors really think about the power that comes from a long-standing reputation for credibility in a media world where that is in short supply? How many consider carefully the clout of a well-coordinated team of newsgatherers, editorial writers and columnists?

Whereas news operations are reactive, editorial pages can be pro-active. They have the luxury of setting their own agenda, of choosing what, among all the news events, they will focus on. They bring their judgment to bear on myriad issues. As Susan Albright, editorial page editor of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, said, “We have time to study the issues. Then we state certain values — whatever the issue. We keep steady — not knee-jerk. We look at issues, then apply values and tradition to them.”

Analysis and opinion

Good newspapers are careful not to blur news and opinion. Readers appreciate that distinction. Editors honor it. Excellent editorial pages can provide the perfect complement to a strong newsroom.

Janet Clayton, editorial page editor of the Los Angeles Times, explains why: “I think the editorial function, as information continues to explode, becomes ever more an important function. We help people sift through what’s important, help people articulate their concerns, engage people. On commentary and analysis, newspapers do a far better job than broadcast, which can’t explain with the same clarity and depth: ‘What does it mean?’

“Editorial pages help people to navigate complex policy issues. They hold the ability to affect decisions and set agendas. They serve as an honest broker, not being beholden to political factions.”

Mike Waller, publisher of The (Baltimore) Sun, sees strong editorial pages as critical to a strong newspaper: “I think it is absolutely vital. I think it is the soul of a newspaper, and I think that this trend that ‘we don’t need editorial pages and we shouldn’t be offending people by what we think’ is just utter nonsense.”

Connections with the community

Editors, whatever their views on civic journalism, have become clear about the importance of connecting with the community. In fact, that was the theme of the ASNE convention in Washington, D.C., in 2000. But how to achieve that admirable goal is a bit trickier for an organization that values its independence — and justly so. A strong newsroom, uncontrolled by special interests, that reports the truth about the community, should make a stronger community. That is true, both in theory and in fact.

But editorial pages across the nation are finding, within their traditional roles, many ways to foster closer connections. Some set formal agendas and measure community progress on the goals. Others bring in community advisers to meet with editors and provide a variety of services – from critiquing the paper to discussing issues to offering op-ed columns. Many such boards include people from traditionally underrepresented groups with little access to those inside newspapers. Some editorial pages sponsor community forums focusing on issues of concern.

Editorial pages traditionally are the points of entry for readers to newspapers because of letters to the editor and opinion pieces from the public. Some pages have found ways to recognize letter writers through programs that honor outstanding letters for the week, month or year.

But, in a larger sense, the newspaper, and particularly the editorial page, provides a common ground for the community to determine its values and work out its problems. One advocate of that view is Thomas Shanks, former executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University: “How do we ever arrive at a set of shared values? How do we ever figure out how to implement them for our communities? A newspaper is, in fact, helping us to arrive at and try to reflect what the shared values are. It tried to create those values in some cases, and I think particularly the opinion pages do that. There are very few opportunities and places where we can do it.”

Given all these factors, there is much room for idealism and optimism among newspaper leaders. But, they must have a clear fix on their strengths and opportunities — and that includes the newspaper’s editorial pages.

(Editor’s note: While Burkett was editor-in-residence at the Media Management Center at Northwestern University in 1998, she interviewed newspaper leaders from across the nation and wrote “Future Voice — Editorial Pages: Newspapers’ overlooked strategic tool,” from which these ideas came. The publication is available from the Media Management Center, 1007 Church, Suite 500, Evanston, Ill. 60201.)

Burkett is editorial page editor of the San Antonio Express-News