Opinion Writing

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Opinion Writing

• With the skills youll begin to learn in this
  bookyou can do more good than a battalion of Red
  Cross volunteers. You can also do more harm than
  a bomb-throwing terrorist on a crowded street
  corner.
• - Fink on p. ix

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Triangle

• Personal Essay
• Creative Non-Fiction
• Opinion Writing

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Op-Ed Page

• Pages opposite the editorial page, which are
  opened to reader opinion and syndicated columns
  as well as staff-written columns.
• Inquirer has 3 sections Current, NJ and PA.

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Shaping or Shadowing?

• Do opinion writers shape or shadow public opinion?

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Opinion Writing

• Art
• Graced with creative beauty
• Hits hard frequently
• Serious business

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The Power

• That responsibilitywhich you now assumehas
  been centuries in making, beginning with those
  quill-pen colonial journalists whose opinion and
  commentary helped start a revolution.
• - p. 3

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Opinion Mission

• Commenting, criticizing and applauding is an
  essential compliment to the news mission.

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Responsibilities

• Ideas and emotions.
• Backed by major institution.

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The Journalism Part

• Get it right.
• Tell it straight.
• Do it with fairness and balance.

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Goals to Guide Your Writing

• Serve your public.
• Provide a foruma marketplace of ideasfor
  readers, community, nation.
• Be societys watchdog.
• Inform and guide your readers to cause change.

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Serve Your Public

• Take a strong position.
• Support one side attack the other.
• Do it the public interestnot your interest or
  the newspapers interest.

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Public Forum

• Let all be heard.

13
Watchdog

• ASNE Statement of Principles
• The American press was made free not just to
  inform or just serve as a forum for debate but
  also to bring an independent scrutiny to bear on
  the forces of power in society, including the
  conduct of official power at all levels of
  government.

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Inform and Guide Readers

• Follow methis is the way.
• But only after careful consideration.
• Needs experience.

15

• Editorial writing is more than another way of
  making money. It is a profession devoted to the
  public welfare and to public service. The chief
  duty of its practitioners is to provide the
  information and guidance toward sound judgments
  that are essential to the healthy functioning of
  a democracy.
• - From Basic Statement of Principles

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Intense Introspection

• Codes are consensus documents.
• Often written to protect the newspaper.
• Avoid conflicts of interest.
• Open yourself to diverse views.

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Watch That Ego

• Maintain your voice.

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Philadelphia Inquirer Guidelines for Opinion
Pieces

• What we look for well-written, thought-provoking
  essays on all sorts of topics. We want vigorous,
  clear argumentation within the confines of the
  short essay -- the voices of well-informed and
  opinionated citizens speaking to others in the
  widest possible forum.

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Inquirer Editing

• Be ready to be edited. Our first concern is to
  preserve the essential voice, style, and
  viewpoint of each author, but sometimes we have
  to stick a 150-line essay (we talk about essay
  lengths in lines) into a 125-line space. Space
  wins every time.

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Good News Too

• Applaud good and cheer the light too.

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Write it well

• Write it well, and they will come. Make it eye
  appealing, and they will read. Make it fair, and
  they will respect your opinion.
• - Rena Pederson in the Dallas Morning News

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Conscience

• Listen to your instinct.
• Listen to your mom.
• Societal values.
• Journalistic Principles.
• Be ready for pain.

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Finding Issues

• Eighty percent of the job is deciding what to
  write about.
• - Mike Royko, late columnist for the Chicago
  Tribune

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Castor-Oil Journalism

• Read this! Its good for you.

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Community Good

• Help make good things happen in the community.
• - Editor, Austin American Statesman

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The Markets

• Geographic The more local, the better.
• Demographic and Psychographic Who is in the
  audience?

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Core Issues

• What can you say about politics, crime, taxes,
  schools, health, transportation by using the
  small?
• Pay attention to your community and your own
  life.
• What can you add?
• Whats different?
• Whats your expertise?