This page was last updated on August 22, 2013.
New look to editorial page; Shane Fitzgerald – Executive Editor; Beaver County Times; August 18, 2013.
Below is a critique of portions of this column.
“What you see on this page today is the first obvious change we are implementing at The Times with the new editor (that’s me) on board.”
[RWC] I would like to give Mr. Fitzgerald the benefit of the doubt, but it’s tough given my experience or that of anyone who’s read the BCT for at least the last 10 years.
A media outlet reflects the goals of its owner. The BCT may have a “new editor,” but its owner remains Calkins Media. According to the BCT website, “Calkins Media, based in Levittown, Pa., owns daily newspapers in Levittown; Uniontown, Pa.; Doylestown, Pa.; Willingboro, N.J.; and Homestead, Fla. Calkins also owns television stations in Florida and Alabama, and interactive media sites.” Another “kissing cousin” of the BCT is ShaleReporter.com.
“An opinion page should stoke conversation in a community. The newspaper’s editorial board and its editorials are one source. Readers, with letters to the editor, are another significant and important source, and I encourage you to write and express your thoughts. Local subject experts with views in longer form are another pertinent area who can inspire conversation.”
[RWC] The “opinion page” is an old journalistic trompe l’oeil intended to make readers believe opinion is limited to the op-ed pages while everything else in the publication is straight-up, objective reporting. It’s like a magician luring his audience to focus on one hand while the other hand is where the real action is. In reality, “news” publications are divided into opinion and more-opinion or fiction and more-fiction sections. To help with the sleight-of-hand, it appears some pundits intentionally write ridiculous op-ed pieces so “news” columns look reasonable in comparison. That could have been part of J.D. Prose’s mission, but I think he was serious. More than we would like to believe, so-called “news” stories are simply opinion/fiction columns planted in the news section. So-called “analysis” columns are also opinion pieces.
“Even though we will emphasize local content on this page, outside views are important, too. The world does expand beyond Beaver County, and there will be times we use national columnists to start local conversations. And we will have an editorial cartoon daily.
“We will strive for political and ideological balance. We will look for views from the middle, left and right, big and small. Some days we will be viewed as liberal. Some days we will be viewed as conservative. Some days we will be viewed as liberal and conservative on the same day. And that will be a good day, in my opinion. My point is to ask you not to judge the overall balance on any single day.”
[RWC] Keep in mind Mr. Fitzgerald is writing exclusively about the “opinion page.” Thus, when Mr. Fitzgerald wrote “[the BCT] will strive for political and ideological balance,” he was writing about the “opinion page,” not the “news” pages.
“Some days we will be viewed as conservative” seems a tad over the top and is pretty tough to swallow given BCT history. We’re talking about the BCT, after all, and its ownership hasn’t changed. Other than as tokens, I will be surprised if we see columns by writers like Charles Krauthammer, Thomas Sowell, Walter E. Williams, and so on.
Please read my paper “Media Bias.” When I refer to media bias, I’m referring to bias (what is or is not reported and how) in news reporting, not the content of editorials or articles on the opinion pages. I believe one of Mr. Fitzgerald’s goals for this piece is to reinforce the myth that opinion appears only in the opinion pages.
“The purpose is to start discussion about local, regional or national issues with the notion that we will support what is best for the community, regardless of the politics on any given issue. I know some of you are chuckling and saying, ‘Yeah, right,’ under your breath now. But this is not a bully pulpit. It’s meant to inspire conversation, thought and, at times, action.
“Reporter J.D. Prose’s column will change. I’ve asked J.D. to continue reporting on politics and writing a political notes column as time and news merits, but I’ve asked him to back away from opinion writing so that he has more time to focus on the watchdog and enterprise journalism about which I wrote last week. He is writing about this shift in his column, as well.”
[RWC] Sorry, but the horse is out of the barn. Mr. Prose ceased being a credible politics reporter as soon as he popped on his political pundit hat. If anything, as a “surly progressive” (his description) activist, Mr. Prose should have been assigned to focus on “opinion writing.” Mr. Prose’s columns weren’t just biased along ideological and political lines. Mr. Prose’s “style” demonstrated genuine animosity toward anyone whose positions he did not share. How else could Mr. Prose write in today’s column, “the Republican Party is inching closer each day to becoming a marginalized faction of hate, selfishness, xenophobia, misogyny and racism?”
Other than his fellow “surly progressives,” who will now believe Prose “watchdog and enterprise journalism” pieces won’t be driven by the personal ideology and politics he put on display in his opinion-page columns?
I wonder if Mr. Fitzgerald will crack down on Mr. Prose’s heavy reliance on anonymous (aka imaginary?) sources.
What about Rachel Morgan and Patrick O’Shea? Though not to the same extent as Mr. Prose, Ms. Morgan and Mr. O’Shea are “reporters” who write opinion pieces.
One possibility for this action is Mr. Fitzgerald and the BCT owners recognized a fire-breathing “surly progressive” opinion writer wasn’t helping the lefty cause in Beaver County. BC Democrats are not the same as those in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and so on. As of the 2013 primary, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in BC nearly 2 to 1 (60% to 35%). Despite this overwhelming registration advantage by Democrats, Republicans predominantly represent BC in the General Assembly. For President, John Kerry barely beat (by less than three percentage points) the allegedly hated President George W. Bush in 2004 and the Republican candidates won in 2008 (John McCain by three points) and 2012 (Mitt Romney by more than six points). In 2010, the Republican candidates for Governor and a U.S. Senate seat won in BC. Of course Democrats still win in BC (Critz beat Rothfus in 2012 by one point for the 12th district U.S. House seat), especially at the local level, but BC no longer automatically elects the Democrat candidate. Most of my friends are Democrats and most of them are not fans of the BCT in general, and Mr. Prose in particular. It’s hard to believe, but they got tired of being called haters, selfish, xenophobes, misogynists, and racists simply because they didn’t buy into the brand of leftism sold by the BCT and Mr. Prose. Most businesses recognize constantly bashing your customers isn’t good for business. Perhaps Mr. Fitzgerald and the BCT ownership came to the same conclusion. Then again, I could be all wet.
Does the “back[ing] away from opinion writing” apply to Mr. Prose’s personal Twitter page? I hope not.
“We also are going to publish this page daily, rather than just four days a week. We are moving back to a more traditional approach from a newspaper than you’ve seen from recent content in this space.
“Even before my introductory column last week, I had a sense our paper needed to have a daily presence with an editorial page. I had a conversation with publisher Lisa Reese about this and was glad to hear her enthusiasm for us to reach out to the community. We agreed that this paper should try to be a leader in the area and inspire residents to speak up and speak out.
“We’re adding Kirstin Kennedy to our editorial board. She works on our copy and design desk, but she also will help the board select non-local content for the page, design the page, work with letters to the editor and write some of our editorials.”
[RWC] According to an editorial on the BCT website, Ms. Kennedy has been on the BCT editorial board since at least January 2013. In an editorial entitled “Scouts should stop playing straight,” Ms. Kennedy accused the Boy Scouts of “ignorance and intolerance.”
“We will speak our collective mind, but we also will give you a chance to speak yours, too, assuming appropriate decorum and respect for others’ views are followed. Yelling at or berating the publisher, managing editor Lisa Micco, Kennedy or me won’t get you anywhere. Having a polite, respectful discussion with us will carry far more weight.
“This is successful if we can agree to disagree in a civil manner. And I hope your letters to the editor and any phone conversation or online comments reflect that philosophy.”
[RWC] If you read today’s J.D. Prose column, you’ll find “appropriate decorum and respect for others’ views,” “a polite, respectful discussion,” and “disagree[ing] in a civil manner” apparently was to take effect after August 18, 2013.
“The opinions expressed will be of the editorial board and not of any one single person. When we do run editorials from other outlets, however, we will let readers know from what outlet they came.”
[RWC] Wouldn’t “run[ning] editorials from other outlets” without proper attribution be plagiarism, or at least copyright infringement?
“As I wrote last week, we would be making changes along the way, and more are to come. Not all will be as obvious as this one.
“I welcome your feedback and encourage you to write.”
© 2004-2013 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.