{"id":15332,"date":"2013-10-08T13:38:03","date_gmt":"2013-10-08T18:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/in-print-newspapers-cut-opinion\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:29:24","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:29:24","slug":"in-print-newspapers-cut-opinion","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/10\/08\/in-print-newspapers-cut-opinion\/","title":{"rendered":"In print, newspapers cut opinion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Much has been written about <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/06\/25\/newspaper-newsrooms-suffer-large-staffing-decreases\/\">newspapers cutting staffs<\/a>, news pages and bureaus in response to <a href=\"http:\/\/stateofthemedia.org\/2013\/newspapers-stabilizing-but-still-threatened\/\">financial pressures<\/a> in recent years. But a growing number of dailies also have reduced the amount of newsprint they devote to editorials and commentary, a departure from tradition that has gone largely unnoticed outside the affected communities.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The latest and perhaps most prominent example is the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.philly.com\/philly\/opinion\/inquirer\/\">Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a>, which announced in September that it was cutting in half\u2014from two to one\u2014the number of pages allotted to editorials and opinions on weekdays, triggering protests. There is no formal tally of reductions in editorials and commentary, but Pew Research Center interviews with editors across the country have confirmed a gradual shift both in the amount of space given over to opinion and in the missions of editorial and op-ed pages. Some papers have tried to compensate by running more editorials and columns online and launching more opinion-driven blogs. Some have shifted away from one of the historic missions of newspapers\u2014influencing public opinion\u2014and instead seek to foment community conversations online.<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/assets.pewresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2013\/10\/FT_13.10.07_opinionWriters.png\"><img data-dominant-color=\"d9ced0\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #d9ced0;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"310\" height=\"405\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 310px) 100vw, 310px\" class=\"wp-image-27634 not-transparent\" alt=\"FT_13.10.07_opinionWriters\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/10\/FT_13.10.07_opinionWriters.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/10\/FT_13.10.07_opinionWriters.png 310w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/10\/FT_13.10.07_opinionWriters.png?resize=230,300 230w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/10\/FT_13.10.07_opinionWriters.png?resize=200,261 200w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/10\/FT_13.10.07_opinionWriters.png?resize=260,340 260w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/10\/FT_13.10.07_opinionWriters.png?resize=160,209 160w\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe trend over the last dozen years or so is that editorial departments have lost space and personnel,\u201d said Bob Davis, associate publisher\/editor of <a href=\"http:\/\/jaxnews.com\/pages\/opinion\">The Anniston (Ala.) Star<\/a>, which has cut one opinion page per week. \u201cPeople are looking at themselves less as being an editorial voice and more as being a stimulator of conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One telling sign of the cutbacks is membership in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.opinionjournalists.org\/\">Association of Opinion Journalists<\/a>, the organization that represents editorial writers and columnists. In 2006, before most newspaper downsizing took place, the AOJ had 549 members. Since then, membership has plunged 55%, to 245 this year.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><!--more-->Some examples of this changing landscape:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <a href=\"http:\/\/seattletimes.com\/html\/editorialsopinion\/\">Seattle Times<\/a> a few years ago dropped one of its two opinion pages on Tuesdays through Fridays to save money. It also stopped using some syndicated columnists, figuring people could read them on other Web sites, said Editorial Page Editor Kate Riley. Now, she said, the editorial page focuses on local and regional issues while commentary on the paper\u2019s web site has been beefed up. \u201cThis is not a company that is abandoning its opinion pages,\u201d Riley said. \u201cThe idea that fewer print pages is a measure of such commitment is Twentieth-Century thinking.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/opinion\/\">Kansas City Star<\/a> eliminated one of its three weekday opinion pages in late 2008 and one of three Sunday pages in 2011. Miriam Pepper, vice president\/editorial page, said that while some readers turn to the paper\u2019s Web site to read commentary, that is not for everyone. \u201cIt does really worry me that some papers are shrinking op-ed space,\u201d Pepper said. \u201cWe\u2019re the last place where communities can really have conversations that reach a really diverse audience.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tcpalm.com\/news\/opinion\/\">Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers<\/a> in Florida (comprising the Stuart News, the Indian River Press Journal and the St. Lucie News-Tribune) actually added two opinion pages on Sundays, but reduced the number of editorials they produce. As if to illustrate a shift in focus, Scripps changed Larry Reisman\u2019s title from editorial page editor to audience engagement and opinion editor. \u201cIf we don\u2019t have anything that we have to say,\u201d Reisman said, \u201cthen we don\u2019t say it.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/news\/opinion\/\">South Florida Sun-Sentinel<\/a> eliminated its op-ed page a few years ago, but reinstated a half page in response to an outcry from readers. Earlier this year, the paper added more space for opinion. But, Editorial Page Editor Rosemary Goudreau said, in the past decade, the number of editorial writers has dropped from 11 to five.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Many newspapers have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ajr.org\/article.asp?id=4648\">cut editorial cartoonists<\/a> and syndicated columnists in print and online. \u00a0Jack Newcombe, president of Creators Syndicate, which represents 200 writers and artists, said he\u2019s had to look to different types of\u00a0 Web sites to run his clients\u2019 opinion columns because \u201cit\u2019s absolutely harder\u201d to sell to newspapers these days.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The reduction in space at the Philadelphia Inquirer has been particularly contentious, with Editorial Page Editor Harold Jackson <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsworks.org\/index.php\/local\/item\/59265-02efpaper\/\">urging op-ed contributors to protest<\/a> to the paper\u2019s owners, a group of local investors. Publisher Bob Hall said that although the Inquirer has endured repeated rounds of financially induced cutbacks in recent years, the decision to eliminate the op-ed page \u201cwas not done at all for cost-cutting purposes.\u201d Hall said that in focus groups, people said the paper had \u201ctoo many editorials, too much bias\u201d and that some, but not all, of the space will be made up with an extra page on Sundays. Still, Hall acknowledged that many readers have complained about the cuts. On Monday, Hall fired Inquirer Editor William K. Marimow, citing \u201cphilosophical differences\u201d over the newspaper\u2019s direction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A growing number of dailies have reduced the amount of newsprint they devote to editorials and commentary, a departure from tradition that has gone largely unnoticed outside the affected 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