MOST OF the e-mails in my inbox and a majority of the letters to the editor I see are from readers complaining about something written in a column or an editorial.
Opinion pages naturally draw criticism. Reasonable people disagree with columnists and newspapers' positions on everything from foreign policy, the death penalty and affirmative action to campus politics. I personally disagree with some of the arguments made by The Cavalier Daily's columnists. But as the newspaper's ombudsman, I'm more interested in readers' criticisms of how columnists are arguing their points than their criticisms of what columnists are arguing.
Readers complain to me or in letters to the editor that a columnist hasn't done enough research to support the main point of a column. I did some quick research of my own for this column and found a couple of organizations that look like authorities on editorial writing.
The National Society of Newspaper Columnists' code of conduct says columnists "will strive to inform, educate and entertain" readers and "work hard to provoke them to think." The National Conference of Editorial Writers' Web site also lists nine principles to follow. The first principle says editorial writers "should present facts honestly and fully," and the second says they should "draw fair conclusions from the stated facts, basing them upon the weight of evidence and upon the writer's considered concept of the public good."
Columnists and editorial writers must do some amount of reporting to get facts that support their arguments, either by interviewing people, researching a subject or simply reading the news. For the most part, The Cavalier Daily's columnists make an effort to find those supporting facts. They use statistics and cite news articles to back up their opinions, and they occasionally quote people they have interviewed.
Some readers also tell me columnists should do more to balance their columns by presenting all sides of arguments. Again, a column should be based in fact, but it is ultimately the writer's opinion. A columnist has no obligation to argue for an opposing viewpoint. Editorial writing simply isn't like news reporting, which requires reporters to present every argument in a fair and balanced way.
A good editorial writer, however, will acknowledge the other side of an issue and present evidence (other than name-calling, which seems to be the method of choice of too many political commentators) showing why he or she thinks that argument is flawed. This approach relates to the principle that editorial writers "should present facts honestly and fully." And editorial writers strengthen their own arguments by taking this approach because they show they've considered both sides of an issue and reasoned that their position is better.
In this sense, The Cavalier Daily's columnists sometimes fall short. They generally do a good job of presenting facts supporting their arguments, but they often fail to address information that may damage their arguments or support opposing views.
I also hear from readers who suggest the newspaper should balance a column on one side of an issue with a column that presents the other side. For example, one reader told me a few weeks ago he would like to see The Cavalier Daily run something supporting affirmative action after a columnist denounced it. He told me responsible journalism should not favor one side or another and wrote that people will see bias in a publication if it only runs columns that take the same side.
I can't argue with the reader's definition of responsible journalism. The Cavalier Daily should give a voice to all views on the Opinion page. The newspaper does not and should not do that by always requiring one of its own columnists to write something opposing another columnist. The Opinion editors may not be able to find a staff columnist who feels passionate enough about the opposite side of an issue to write a column on it. Besides, columnists like having the freedom to choose their own topics.
The Cavalier Daily frequently gets opinions to balance those of columnists through letters to the editor. Anyone who wants to publicly argue with an editorial or column has a forum in the Letters to the Editor section. The newspaper publishes as many letters as space and volume allow for, because doing so holds true to another principle of editorial writing:
"The editorial writer should realize that the public will appreciate more the value of the First Amendment if others are accorded an opportunity for expression," the National Conference of Editorial Writers says. "Therefore, voice should be given to diverse opinions, edited faithfully to reflect stated views."
Jeremy Ashton can be reached at ombud@cavalierdaily.com.
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