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National columnists add variety to the Opinion Page
The Oakland Press, as hopefully you’ve noticed, runs a number of nationally syndicated columnists.
These are individuals who have earned recognition nationwide for their writing and their views. They are often employed by national publications and are allowed to offer services to other subscribing newspapers. Their columns usually run after they’ve appeared in their home newspaper. Many you probably know by name, even before reading their pieces on the Opinion Page.
Currently running on a weekly basis are such individuals as D.J. Dionne, Charles Krauthammer, Leonard Pitts and Walter E. Williams or Cal Thomas.
Dionne, considered a liberal, runs on Saturdays, and Krauthammer, a conservative, runs on Mondays. Pitts, a liberal and Williams or Thomas, both conservatives, run usually on Page 3 of the Sunday Forum section.
Note the balance — one liberal and one conservative? That’s what we strive for when presenting views on our opinion pages. It is a newspaper’s responsibility to present opposing views and try to balance one side against another, where possible.
Also, other national columnists that we run from time to time include Donna Brazile, Delroy Murdock, Dan Thomasson, Bonnie Erbe and Betsy Hart. These individuals offer a nice range of conservative and liberal views that may be of interest to our readers.
Yes, at one time, we ran Ann Coulter, a conservative, as well as liberal Bill Press. We discontinued running both because of the large number of complaints we received from readers. Both individuals were considered just two extreme by even people who called themselves conservative and liberally, respectively.
We put a priority on local letters to the editor and local guest opinions but we offer the national columnists to provide a perspective that many readers also want.
We, of course, are still taking calls on all of the national columnists and so the liberal-conservative, conservative-liberal mix is constantly changing. But the goal doesn’t change. We want to offer our readers a variety of opinions, just as we offer them a forum to express their own views.
These are individuals who have earned recognition nationwide for their writing and their views. They are often employed by national publications and are allowed to offer services to other subscribing newspapers. Their columns usually run after they’ve appeared in their home newspaper. Many you probably know by name, even before reading their pieces on the Opinion Page.
Currently running on a weekly basis are such individuals as D.J. Dionne, Charles Krauthammer, Leonard Pitts and Walter E. Williams or Cal Thomas.
Dionne, considered a liberal, runs on Saturdays, and Krauthammer, a conservative, runs on Mondays. Pitts, a liberal and Williams or Thomas, both conservatives, run usually on Page 3 of the Sunday Forum section.
Note the balance — one liberal and one conservative? That’s what we strive for when presenting views on our opinion pages. It is a newspaper’s responsibility to present opposing views and try to balance one side against another, where possible.
Also, other national columnists that we run from time to time include Donna Brazile, Delroy Murdock, Dan Thomasson, Bonnie Erbe and Betsy Hart. These individuals offer a nice range of conservative and liberal views that may be of interest to our readers.
Yes, at one time, we ran Ann Coulter, a conservative, as well as liberal Bill Press. We discontinued running both because of the large number of complaints we received from readers. Both individuals were considered just two extreme by even people who called themselves conservative and liberally, respectively.
We put a priority on local letters to the editor and local guest opinions but we offer the national columnists to provide a perspective that many readers also want.
We, of course, are still taking calls on all of the national columnists and so the liberal-conservative, conservative-liberal mix is constantly changing. But the goal doesn’t change. We want to offer our readers a variety of opinions, just as we offer them a forum to express their own views.
posted by Allan Adler at
8:48 AM
6 Comments:
Why do we see letters (voice of the people) from the same people over and over? I see Bob Fricks name on a weekly basis. Surely you have other letters from other people you could print. Of course his letters always have a hard-core republican slant...oh I just answered my own question! Does he have a relative working there at the Oakland De-Press?
To the above commenter. Don't be too hard on Frick. This should be expected from a retired General Electric employee with a low watt bulb. He also has a reserved spot in Jeff Kuehn's Sunday sports column and it doesn't get any better there either. Maybe he just doesn't have anything better to do or gets his jollies out of seeing his name in the newspaper. Be glad he doesn't team up with a guy named Frack. Now that would be interesting.
Interesting. You say the OP puts a priority on local letters and guest opinions, which are free, yet you preempt them with syndicated columnists, that you have to pay for. If the OP is feeling the budget crunch, as you've stated in the past, and indeed wants to connect with it's readers, then it would seem you have this bass-ackwards. The OP needs to realize that people needing their beliefs reinforced by liberal or conservative mouthpieces are lemmings that can't think for themselves anyway. The people that should matter are the OP's readers, especially those that take the time to write an article. Why not a compromise? Put the syndicated people on-line and let the subscribers have the ink.
Since you didn't like my post and decided to remove it, why don't you at least correct your awful sentence with the incorrect use of the word "two"??
The oakland Press is a Republican newspaper.Granted that you do offer the opinion of those who don't agree with you.In Sunday's May 15 Editorial,you spoke about "$1billion campaign puts Obama in debt of wealthy." Never once did you mention the fact that Republicans campaign money came from the wealthy.Are you saying that Republicans have so much money that they don't need to except money from the rich? Who are you kidding? It's pure baloney and you know it.The Oakland Press doesn't have any room to talk seeing as they contribute to Republicans
Ryan's bill seeks to destroy Medicare for the people.The Insurance companies can hardly wait to see it privitized.Republicans refuse to tax the wealthy.Why is this?Because it is the wealthy who paid to help elect them.They seek the destruction of unions who brought the middle class into the workforce by bargining. Big business wants to return to the days of Henry Ford with $5.00 a day wages or less.No safety rules,no regulations,No overtime wages.If you wanted to keep your job and the forman needed his house painted for free you went and painted it.Greed is a powerful force.Shame on you for wanting to turn back time
Where only the wealthy surive.
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