It has come to my attention that not everyone knows how to categorize various pieces in the newspaper.
Ads are pretty obvious. They are paid for and say almost anything the advertiser wants them to say, within legal and taste boundaries. Gone are the days when an ad started out “Seeking mature female for secretarial duties …” In the everchanging landscape of legalized medical pot, there are some images and such which newspapers that are sent via U.S. mail cannot use, because pot is still considered a federal Schedule 1 controlled substance. It’s all clear as mud.
An article is a news or feature story and has a byline – the name of the author – on it. For instance, on Page 1, there are multiple pieces that say By Connie Burcham.
On the opinion page – Page 2 in our paper – there are columns, which carry a photo of the author. It is an opinion piece and may be written by a staff member or by a politician. They may be crafted by the communications director of a business or non-profit. But it is an opinion, and if, for instance, I want to say “the King is a fink,” I can do that. Nobody should be confused about whose opinion it is since there is a picture of the culprit right there.
An editorial – which we seldom run – is the stance of the paper. For instance, if we as an institution decide that it is a bad idea to build a nuclear submarine base here, it could run as an editorial. Larger papers have an editorial board, where the ideas are born, fleshed out and assigned to a writer. That same board will then look over the finished editorial and determine if it hits the right tone and gives the right message. Oft times it is also where readers can find endorsements of political candidates. They are usually more formal in language and voice and may carry multiple source citations to back up the argument being made. It is not uncommon for a staff writer to create an editorial supporting something or someone to whom he or she is personally strongly opposed. I might think a nuclear submarine base here is a fine idea, but the paper itself does not. I still must make the appropriate argument.
As to the rest of the paper, we search for news articles from reliable sources such as the land grant universities that are of general interest to our readers, or so we hope.
As always, if there is something our readers would like to see more of, or less of, or a new idea or something brought back that we used to do, please let us know. A community newspaper should be a mirror of the community it serves, and the Republican strives to hit that mark every week. It is up to our readers to let us know when we miss or need to readjust our aim.