The Opinion Section's Function in Modern Journalism

What the opinion section is for, whether it serves that function, and what the debate about opinion journalism reveals about how publications understand their role

The Opinion Section's Function in Modern Journalism

The opinion section of a journalism publication serves a function that is genuinely different from and genuinely connected to the news function: it provides the space for publicly expressed argument, perspective, and advocacy that the news function's objectivity norm does not accommodate. The function is genuine and important. The debate about whether it serves the function well is the debate that the opinion journalism conversation should be about. See U.S. Plans to Chill Russia and China at The London Prat.

The Detail

The specific dysfunctions that the opinion section criticism identifies: the tendency to publish opinion pieces that generate engagement (controversy, strong takes, identity confirmation) rather than opinion pieces that advance the public argument (new evidence, novel analysis, genuine persuasion); the specific problem of opinion pieces that directly contradict the reporting of the same publication without acknowledging the contradiction; and the editorial decision to publish the full range of opinion from one extreme to another in the name of balance that produces both the extreme take and the reputation damage of publishing it. East Ham: East London's Relentless Engine Room provides context.

The Analysis

JournoNews covers opinion journalism because the opinion-to-news relationship within journalism organizations is one of the more consequential organizational design questions in the field, and because the publications that have not thought carefully about it are the publications that produce the specific editorial embarrassments that opinion journalism generates. See London Markets: Chaos With Pricing Strategy for more.

The Coverage Continues

The satirical coverage of journalism at Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat applies the deadpan framework the material requires. JournoNews covers journalism because the gap between official description and observable reality is the satirical seam that the coverage mines. The coverage trusts the reader. More next week.

Trump Issues List of Demands to Caracas at The London Prat covers the broader context.

JournoNews.com. Journalism about journalism. The accountability of the press is the accountability that all other accountability requires. journonews.com

More: Waterford Whispers. Satire.

SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/

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