A NEWSPAPER'S main purpose is to inform, but it has an ancillary purpose to provide a forum for opinions as well. Most of these opinions are provided by staff columnists or cartoonists, but a newspaper also prints opinions of non-staffers with guest columns and letters to the editor.
The most high-profile opinion in each day's issue of The Cavalier Daily comes in the form of the one or two lead editorials that run down the left side of the first opinion page. A paper's editorials serve as one of the leading indicators of its institutional political leanings - for example, liberal for The Washington Post and conservative for The Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Unfortunately, many readers fail to make a distinction between an editorial and a column. After reading a controversial column, the first reaction may be, "Did you see what The Cavalier Daily said?" This reaction is simply incorrect and does an injustice to the newspaper.
It is right there under the editorial, every day. "Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Managing Board. Cartoons and columns represent the views of the authors." The Managing Board consists of the five people listed above the editorial. If three of them share an opinion, that is the opinion of The Cavalier Daily. Scary, eh? Relatively small groups perform the same function at all newspapers, professional and collegiate.
When controversy arises from a column or cartoon, which are accompanied by the author's name, the only complaint, if any, that should be leveled at a newspaper is its editorial decision to print it. Most newspapers will err on the side of free expression - stirring up a little outside controversy is usually better than dealing with a staff upset about in-house censorship.
This does not mean there aren't rules about who can have opinions and what they can say. Generally, no one should write an opinion column and news story on the same topic. A member of an organization should not write a column about that organization, or an issue related to it, without some sort of disclosure - this way, the reader can absorb the expressed opinion with a greater sense of context. The Cavalier Daily has policies that reflect these rules, but it has repeatedly made another type of opinion misstep.
Most newspapers are guided by the principle that, in general, they should not editorialize about a topic and report on it the same day. The reason for this is fairly simple - a reader should not read "this is what happened" on the front page and then read "and this is what we think about it - you should, too" on the opinion page a few minutes later.
Time is one of the most valuable elements in shaping an informed, reasoned opinion. Delaying an editorial, even for a day, after reports of an event serves to allow the editors and the readers to form better opinions through discussion, research and contemplation. Obviously, every newspaper ran Sept. 12 editorials about the events of the previous day - every guideline can be broken in unusual circumstances. But in more normal situations, it is better to let an issue sit and take shape before editorializing.
The Cavalier Daily has reported on and editorialized on a topic in the same issue several times this semester. On both Monday and Tuesday last week, the editorial reflected the Cavalier Daily's opinion about an issue reported on that day's front page. This type of approach is dangerous, for it can make it appear the paper is simply firing off a knee-jerk reaction to a new issue.
Of course, such a quick editorial response may also serve notice that the newspaper is extremely concerned about the issue. It also could reflect that in a relatively small community, there may not be very many topics worth an editorial. It may consider the relatively short attention span of the student body at large - wait too long with an editorial, and the reader may have forgotten the news. But it could also reflect a relatively unplanned "we need to fill space - what's on the front page?" approach.
The Cavalier Daily has shown that it can put together a good news story-editorial combination - Monday's story about the Bloomfield honor charges ("Committee makes slow progress with trials") was followed by Thursday's editorial with suggestions for the process ("Honor system upgrade"). Excellent work.
Planning editorials a few days ahead in an atmosphere where important new issues can arise daily can be difficult, but it is by no means impossible. I have received a fair amount of criticism of The Cavalier Daily on this issue, so there are readers out there paying attention. They want editorials they feel like they should listen to, and hopefully The Cavalier Daily can provide them.
(Matthew Branson can be reached at ombud@cavalierdaily.com.)
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