Lead with your opinion section

Make your Op/Ed content come alive, and let your paper emerge as the leading voice of your student body.By Gary Lindsay, JEA Mentor of Iowa, North Central JEA Director

Roles & Responsibilities

With press freedom comes the traditional responsibilities of serving the public.

This is true for both the professional and student press.

The best way to gain and maintain free expression rights is to responsibly perform the roles your public expects you to play.

Ten roles of the press

News reporting Entertainment Maintain a public record of

information Promote school

(community) spirit Project a positive image to

the community Build the skills of the

publication staff

Reflect and validate the culture of your readers

Leadership: show readers options, and influence community decisions

Public forum: provide a soap box

Interpretation: explain how trends, issues and personalities affect life at your school

For more on the roles of journalism see a presentation on my website: Journalismguy.roles

Op / Ed roles

News reporting Entertainment Maintain a public record

of information Promote school

(community) spirit Project a positive image

to the community Build the skills of the

publication staff

Reflect and validate the culture of your readers

Leadership: show readers options, and influence community decisions

Public forum: provide a soap box

Interpretation: explain how trends, issues and personalities affect life at your school

What is editorial leadership?

Showing your readers what alternatives exist for resolving school problems and issues

Influencing readers in their decision-making Becoming the voice of the student body Providing a forum for many voices to be

heard in relation to school issues

Op/Ed content

The staff editorial Editorial cartoons Pro / Con opinion

pieces Guest editorials

Photo / Opinion poll Letters to the editor Columns Reviews

The Staff Editorial

Centerpiece of the opinion page

Speaks for the publication; runs without a byline

Uses first person plural voice: “we,” “us,” “our”

Key place to fulfill leadership role

The Bucs' Blade, Grand Haven High School, Grand Haven, Michigan

Types of staff editorials

Interpretation: breaks down complex problems, explains issues, explores alternatives.

Criticism: brings issues into focus, points out shortcomings, calls for change. This is often the only type of editorial students consider.

Praise: Offers kudos for things well done. Persuasion: leads readers to act in a certain way

using effective argumentation Entertainment: Humor, light content, still purposeful

Editorial cartoon

Offers a strong dominant image to the editorial page

Can provide emphasis, contrast or another point of view to the page

Requires both artistic skill and knowledge of current events

Eric Moore Pelladium, Pella High School.

Guest editorial

Adds a special perspective not generally available

A place for experts, notable personalities, or special talent

Serves the public forum role

U High Midway, Chicago, Illinois, Dec. 15, 2009

Pro / Con opinion pieces

Offers contrasting perspectives on a topic

Opens your pages to a variety of voices not generally heard

Provides a public forum Promotes attention to

school issues

Journal, May 22, 2009, Decatur High School, Decatur, Illinois

Photo opinion poll

Provides person-on-the-street source

Serves public forum role

Provides a variety of perspectives

Helps all readers connect to the issue

Hyphen, Oct. 10, 2011 Jeffersonville High School, Indiana

Letters to the editor

Provide a public forum for all Lets everyone compete in the “Marketplace of

Ideas” Why are they so uncommon in high school papers?

Do we blame it on lazy readers? Is it a result of infrequent publication? Are we just failing to engage readers on our Op/Ed pages?

Can websites help?

Columns Not just an opinion article Voice is key element A columnist stakes out

“territory” that he/she mines for material

Appears regularly to establish a following

Differing tones, points of view balance Op/Ed pages

Audition columnists by asking for three columns

Columns can live outside of the Op/Ed page

Reviews Opinion content that lives in

other sections Wide variety of topics –

movies, music, seasonal venues, restaurants, stores

Use only well-trained and qualified reviewers

A way to get more voices in the publication

Consider topic, audience and purpose

Work for reader involvement

Teen Vogue online

Tips & techniques

Column logos and sigs: key to making your Op/Ed pages personal and inviting

Poison IVY of editorial writing: avoiding some common pitfalls that push readers away

The editorial lead: the little known secret that will engage readers and win awards for your writing

Column logos & sigs

Label special writers Alert readers that the

content is subjective, opinionated, funny

Remain constant from issue to issue

Include Writer’s name Writer’s likeness A catchy title for the

seriesFrom Newspaper Designer’s Handbook, by Tim Harrower; see page 146 for much more.

Avoid Poison IVY

I = The first person singular. Use “we” in staff eds and generally avoid talking about yourself in columns. Subjective content doesn’t need to be self-centered. Keep the subject in focus.

Avoid Poison IVY – cont.

V = verbosity: keep the language conversational, and avoid words that make you feel smart and make the reader feel stupid. Just because you recently learned what “plethora” means doesn’t mean you have to use it in your editorial.

Avoid Poison IVY – cont.

Y = you: don’t address the reader as “you.” Using second person you can create a feeling in the reader that he is being talked down to, being held at a distance from the writer.

Poison IVY is a formula made famous by former Davenport Central adviser Rod Vahl in his book, Effective Editorial Writing. It’s a good volume to add to your staff library.

Editorial lead - a trade secret

Engages all readers and avoids alienating those who will disagree with you. Example:

Clouds began to form and wind kicked up during the afternoon of May xx, 19xx, as James Wood, a drifter with a long record of infractions with the law, completed his grizzly work. He had just finished dismembering the body of a 12-year-old girl whom he had kidnapped, raped and brutally murdered a few days earlier. As he raised what was left of the body above his head, lightening flashed behind him, as he heaved the young girl’s remains into the roily, muddy water of the Snake River in what he later described as a Satanic sacrifice.

Trade secret - cont.

The above lead establishes a topic and a tone, but it purposefully delays giving the writer’s thesis, which could be this:

The senseless brutality of this murder, along with the total lack of remorse by Wood, shocked the community and provided just one example of why the death penalty is appropriate punishment.

Trade secret - cont.

Or, the thesis could be this:Despite the brutality of that murder, the

heart-broken parents of the girl publicly pleaded with that James Wood be given the help and rehabilitation he so desperately needed. They understood what many citizens do not: that the only way to break the spiral of violence is to practice non-violence and reject the use of the death penalty.

Example from Ron Bennett

One essential– the masthead

Announces who you are Publication name or flag, school, address, contact

info States policy: forum status, editorial policy (short

form), letters to the editor policy, advertising info, publication info

Who you affiliate with (IHSPA, JEA, Quill & Scroll) Who is on staff Recent honors and awards

Cost of the publication, subscription info

Where the masthead goes

Many options, but consider packaging it with the staff editorial.

This suggests. “Here’s who we are, and this is what we think.”

Summing up

The Op/ Ed pages Provide leadership Speak for the student body Serve as a public forum Help clarify school issues, and offers solutions to

problems Promote student press freedom

You can download this presentation from journalismguy.wordpress.com