The Long, Slow Death of the Newspaper Editorial - Nieman Reports

https://niemanreports.org/the-long-slow-death-of-the-newspaper-editorial/ 

[ " That approach, however, all but eliminates a newspaper’s own voice, and signals a retreat from its direct engagement in community affairs, a historic change. Newspaper editorials predate America itself. Colonial newspapers inveighed for and against rebellion; a pamphleteer named Thomas Paine galvanized the independence movement by beginning his lengthy series of editorials this way: “These are the times that try men’s souls.” In a hyperpolarized environment, in which readers increasingly seek opinions that reinforce their biases, newspapers can still serve as authoritative, credible, and dispassionate voices, particularly on topics too small to attract the attention of cable news or partisan websites, says Yancey. “I have no special insight into presidential politics,” he said, “but I do know about state and local issues. How many places are there to get an informed perspective on a zoning issue?” Or about city finances? Or a teachers’ strike? Or countless other community controversies? Rather than dictating what readers ought to think, as Gannett’s editors wrote in 2022, the best editorials parse complicated issues and provide what Busemeyer calls “a clear path through the thicket.” Among the countless unsigned columns Busemeyer wrote for the Courant, one of the most significant, he said, was an editorial in 2018 urging a local congresswoman, Elizabeth Esty, to resign over her handling of allegations of sexual harassment by her chief of staff. Esty didn’t take the paper’s advice, but her decision not to seek reelection after three terms suggested the editorial had nonetheless resonated. That a local paper called for her resignation “really meant something,” Busemeyer said. Busemeyer reflects on what’s lost as editorials disappear. “We lose the spirit that lurks behind every news story, the idea that something ought to be done about this,” he said. Without a credible and informed watchdog, one with a long and deep investment in the community’s well-being, Busemeyer says, what’s being lost is an authoritative voice that can say, how dare you? " ]