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Editorial

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For similar terms, see Model (person) § Magazine modelling, online content, and Editorialization (online content).
Editorial from a 1921 issue of Photoplay recommending that readers not watch a film, Heedless Moths, which featured nude scenes
Francis Pharcellus Church, author of the famous 1897 The Sun editorial which contains the line "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus"

An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK), is an article or any other written document, often unsigned, written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper or magazine, that expresses the publication's opinion about a particular topic or issue. Australian and major United States newspapers, such as The New York Times[1] and The Boston Globe,[2] often classify editorials under the heading "opinion".

Characteristics

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An editorial uses arguments, and statements of fact and common sense, in order to advance a certain point of view (e.g. praise, criticism, apologia or advocacy) held by its publication.[3]

Editorials generally have an introduction that introduces the argument, a body that expands upon it and a conclusion that proposes a way to address the issue being discussed. An editorial differs from a column, which represents its author's opinion. Because editorials do not express their individual authors' opinions they are often written in the first-person plural we (in which instance the word is known as the editorial "we"), though they are sometimes written in the first-person singular I.[4]

An editorial is typically written by a member of an editorial board (a group that decides the editorial policies of a publication that all its editorial writers must follow)[5] or by a member (in some cases the publication's editor-in-chief) of the publication's general staff. Multiple editorial writers may be on the staff of a large publication. Because an editorial written by someone who does not agree with its message is likely to be rhetorically weak, the editorial writer himself is usually the person who proposes its writing in the first place.[6] A guest editorial may be published in one publication that is written by and expresses the opinions of another.[7]

Many editorials not written by the editor-in-chief lack bylines. Tom Clark, leader-writer for The Guardian, says that it ensures readers discuss the issue at hand rather than the author.[8] Editorials by the editor are usually signed because the head of the newspaper, the editor, is already known by name, and even if the editor did not write the other editorials, he still oversaw their creations and had some influence over their contents.[9]

Editorials are typically published on a dedicated page, called the editorial page, which often features letters to the editor from members of the public; the page opposite this page is called the op-ed page and frequently contains opinion pieces (hence the name "think pieces") by writers not directly affiliated with the publication. However, a newspaper may choose to publish an editorial on the front page. In the English-language press, this occurs rarely and only on topics considered especially important; it is more common, however, in some European countries such as Denmark, Spain, Italy, and France.[10]

Not all editorials come in textual form. Illustrated ones may appear in the form of editorial cartoons.[11] In the field of fashion publishing, the term is often used to refer to photo-editorials – features with often full-page photographs on a particular theme, designer, model or other single topic, with or (as in a photo-essay) without accompanying text.[12] Opinionated yet analytical television and radio broadcasts by journalists are the equivalent to written editorials.[13]

Ethics

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In 1978 the National Conference of Editorial Writers published a code of ethics for editorial journalists in its journal, The Masthead. The code stated that editors and editorial writers ought to avoid:[14]

  • presenting information dishonestly or disingenuously
  • drawing unreasonable conclusions
  • scorning differing opinions
  • failing to reassess previous conclusions and inform readers when new information arises
  • keeping conflicts of interest secret, or allowing their colleagues to do so
  • accepting favours from sources or subjects
  • releasing information they had promised to keep confidential and
  • publishing other newspapers' editorials as their own without attribution.

History

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Prototypes to the modern editorial form could be found in the prefaces of newsbooks and pamphlets in 17th century England, and in American essays and papers by authors such as Thomas Paine, Isaiah Thomas, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay (the latter three having collectively written The Federalist Papers) during and after the Revolutionary War (1775–1783). The first known newspaper editorial was written by Noah Webster for his newspaper American Minerva's first edition, which was published on 9 December 1793; in it Webster predicted that Americans would be more patriotic "than other nations before them" because they now "own[ed] their land and property".[15] The "modern newspaper editorial ... emerged" in 1784, in the United States, as a result of the commercialisation of journalism and an increasing interest in politics following the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, the Richmond Enquirer started publishing unsigned opinion pieces and thereby created the first instance of a dedicated editorial page in a newspaper.[16] Editorial cartoons began appearing in American newspapers in the mid-19th century.[17] The first "editorialised" radio programs were broadcast in the 1920s,[18] but the Federal Communications Commission, in order to prevent stations from swaying the public, prohibited editorialisation in radio from 1941 until it executed the Fairness Doctrine in 1949.[19]

Cultural differences

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Editorial writers from the United States are blunter than Finnish ones, who tend to be more conflict-averse, in stating their main ideas.[20]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Staff (23 May 2012). "Opinion". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  2. ^ Staff (23 May 2012). "Opinion". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 23 December 2010. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  3. ^ Ward 1969, pp. 20, 26.
  4. ^ Ward 1969, pp. 27, 34, 179, 181.
  5. ^ Passante, Christopher K. (2007). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Journalism – Editorials. Penguin. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-59257-670-8. Retrieved 21 February 2010.
  6. ^ Hulteng 1973, pp. 19, 25, 27.
  7. ^ Ward 1969, pp. 31.
  8. ^ Clark, Tom (10 January 2011). "Why do editorials remain anonymous?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  9. ^ Crean, Mike (2011). First with the news: an illustrated history. Auckland: Random House. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-86979-562-7.
  10. ^ Christie Silk (15 June 2009). "Front Page Editorials: a Stylist Change for the Future?". Editors' Weblog. World Editors' Forum. Archived from the original on 11 November 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  11. ^ Staff (2012). "AAEC The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists". The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  12. ^ "Various editorials". models.com. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  13. ^ Stonecipher 1979, p. 12.
  14. ^ Stonecipher 1979, pp. 15–16.
  15. ^ Black, Tommy (2 July 1976). "City man owns copy of 18th century paper run by Noah Webster". The Birmingham News. p. 22. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
  16. ^ Rivera, Josh. "Why do newspapers still have editorials?". USA TODAY. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
  17. ^ Hopkins, Melissa Corcoran. "Brief History of the Editorial Cartoon". RIT Archives.
  18. ^ Bittner 1977, pp. 2–3.
  19. ^ Stonecipher 1979, p. 21–23.
  20. ^ Le 2010, p. 15.

Works cited

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  • Hulteng, John L. (1973). THE OPINION FUNCTION: Editorial and Interpretive Writing for the News Media. Harper & Row, Publishers.
  • Ward, William G. (1969). The Student Journalist and THINKING EDITORIALS. Richards Rosen Press, Inc.
  • Stonecipher, Harry W. (1979). Editorial and persuasive writing. Opinion functions of the news media. Communication arts books. New York: Hastings House. ISBN 978-0-8038-1953-5.
  • Bittner, John R. (1977). Radio journalism. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-750463-3.
  • Le, Elisabeth (2010). Editorials and the power of media: interweaving of socio-cultural identities. Discourse approaches to politics, society and culture. Amsterdam ; Philadelphia: John Benjamins Pub. Company. ISBN 978-90-272-0626-8.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Editorial.
  • The dictionary definition of editorial at Wiktionary
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