OUR VIEW: A brief journalism lesson

It seems everyone is a critic these days, ourselves included.

It also seems everyone is a “professional journalist” these days and knows what does and does not constitute as journalism. What, with blogs dominating the Web, it’s becoming more and more common to find people who have at least an inkling of knowledge of what goes on in the world of journalism. And then there are those individuals who casually read the newspaper every now and then and watch CNN – mostly because their remote is on the other end of the room and they’re too tired to get up and get it – and claim a deep understanding of the world of journalism. But with all these so-called professionals out in the world, there is still a very diminutive knowledge of how a newspaper works and the types of stories it publishes.

For all intents and purposes, a newspaper publishes three types of stories: Articles, columns and editorials. Each is a different in its purpose, style and composition.

But, to understand the differences, it’s important to know why a newspaper exists, its purpose. A newspaper exists to inform, entertain and provide an open forum for public discussion. These goals are very diverse, yet many people erroneously assume a newspaper exists solely to inform. This is probably because this is the primary purpose of a newspaper, and this is where an article comes into play. An article is a piece that is written in a manner to be as objective and unbiased as possible. The sources in the article are quoted, and the purpose is to tell what happened and what it means. This is the bread and butter of journalism. A reporter’s job is to cover and event and report on what happened, and who said what. It is not their job to be a public relations platform for every event. Their job is to tell it how it was, not how some people would like it to appear.

A column is a piece that contains opinion, yes, an individual’s point of view. It usually does not attempt to be unbiased. The purpose of a column is to provide a particular perspective to an event or the world around the writer. A column is not fact. A column is opinion. We repeat, a column is opinion. You may not agree with the opinion, but that is fine, the writer is likely not asking you to agree, but to read and examine what it is you actually do believe. Some columns are humorous, others aren’t. But the bottom line is to spark thought among readers. These are the entertainment and open forum for public discussion purposes of a newspaper.

An editorial is much like a column, but different in the sense that it is providing commentary on specific events. It is diving into possible views as to what an issue means and why people should care or not care. These are found on the opinion section of the paper – the page you’re reading with a banner up top that reads “Views&Opinion” in 66-point font, in case you missed it. This is exactly what the opinion page is for: To provide a forum for readers to have an open discussion about their views and opinions. An opinion cannot be proven true or false. Many people will read an opinion and agree with it, many will read and disagree. Either way, it fulfilled its purpose in getting the reader to examine his or her beliefs. Simply disagreeing with an editorial or column does not make an instance of poor journalism because it wasn’t full of facts and figures. That’s not the purpose of a column or editorial. There are thousands of people on this campus with thousands of views on thousands of subjects. We, at the Statesman, don’t have the manpower to comment on all views, but we do comment on certain views we feel are important. Yes, many views we express go against the status quo. Many portray things in a less-than-glamorous light. That’s fine. That’s just one opinion, and chances are there are others who agree with it.

So next time you pick up the newspaper and read something you disagree with, for whatever reason, pause for a minute and examine what type of story it is. If it’s an opinion piece you don’t like, you have two options: Do something about it and write your view, or don’t do anything. Our inboxes are waiting.