Reader Representative

The Crimson made a pretty big mistake this week, a technical gaffe that confused me--and I'm one of the people who's supposed to know what's going on.

An (un)signed editorial piece ran along the left side of page two as if it were a staff editorial.

Opinion page editors sometimes use this layout when there is no staff editorial to run in that space on a given day.

But on this day the author of the piece was not credited, a mere omission of a byline that had larger consequences.

The piece even confused Crimson editors who had no recollection of approving a piece on Title IX.

I'm guessing that some readers out there also thought this piece represented The Crimson's staff opinion on the subject.

Things go wrong. That's no big news. But this mistake provides a good starting point for me to lay out the ground rules for page two.

Perhaps in so doing I can answer some questions you may have had in the past and anticipate some that might come up in the future.

So here's what to look for on The Crimson's editorial page, and where it all comes from:

1) The Staff Editorial: an opinion piece representing the official position of The Crimson. Staff editorials may be written by any Crimson editor and are presented at a weekly staff meeting.

Staff members--the 15 to 20 (out of the more than 100) who are usually available to attend the meeting--debate the editorial, make amendments and vote on whether or not to publish the piece.

Staff editorials are not signed because a majority of staff members (not of The Crimson, but only of those who attended the open meeting at which the position was debated) agreed with the piece, and thus it represents more than one person's opinion.

Also, the editorials commonly go through so much revision during the amendment process that sometimes even the writer originally responsible for the piece does not agree with its content by the end of the meeting.

2) The Weekly Column: Crimson editors from any board are invited to compete for column space, which means a space is regularly reserved for them (usually bi-weekly) on page two, in which they can express their thoughts on any topic.

3) The Signed Editorial: These can be written by Crimson editors and compers on any board at any time. The one main restriction on these pieces (and this applies to columns and staff editorials as well) is that reporters cannot write or contribute to opinion pieces about issues they are currently covering for The Crimson's news pages.

Pieces that run on the opinion page are opinions, nothing more. They are not related to news coverage in any way, and more often than not most news editors don't even know what will run on this page until they read their papers at their doorsteps in the morning.

How News Helps

The mission of the editorial writer, as far as I can tell, is to present a clear and convincing argument on a topic of importance to the writer.

But like any reasonable result of a logical process, an editorial piece cannot be convincing unless it is based on fact.

That's why editorial writers are expected to research their pieces, either by reading scholarship or other journalism on the subject, interviewing sources, or even just talking with their friends.

Editorial writers also should show generally the same respect for their subjects as that which is expected from news writers.

This is especially significant in a paper like The Crimson, in which readers and subjects are members of a relatively small community that often overlaps.

Claims made in editorials are only convincing as far as they are credible. To expect readers to make broad leaps of faith or to suspend judgement, even when reading the opinion page, is asking too much and usually offering too little in return.

For information on how to contact Tara, please see page four or call The Crimson at 495-9666 or 576-6565.