The Place of Opinion in Journalism

By Annabel Gorman, September 24, 2021 

In today’s society, we see an abundance of opinions about every imaginable topic. On social media, everyday citizens voice their opinions about their topic of interest and argue their points against others who oppose their views. In journalism, opinions are also becoming increasingly abundant in the editorial section of news sites. Here, journalists voice their views and share their insights into what is right and what is wrong. The increase of editorials begs the question: should journalism be objective, or can opinion pieces be good journalism?

To be brief, yes, opinion journalism can be good journalism. In describing itself as “opinion” journalism, it follows one of the basic tenets of good journalism, transparency. In stating that the article is an opinion, the journalist makes their intentions as well as the context of the article abundantly clear to readers. Opinion journalism also follows the other characteristics of good journalism. Opinion journalism is accurate; journalists cannot shoot from the hip and must provide indisputable facts as part of their opinion piece. Two case studies illustrate the other ways in which opinion pieces can be good journalism. 

In 2012, the Tampa Bay Times wrote a series of opinion pieces focused on the decision of commissioners in Pinellas County to remove fluoride from the drinking water. (Wyss, 2008, 172). In their opinion pieces, they criticized the decision while retaining the six qualities of good journalism (Wyss, 2008, 223). They presented facts which showed that fluoride did not pose a threat to human health. These mainly consisted of statistics and scientific conclusions, all of which were accurate. They were also thorough, conceding that in a few cases, fluoride had caused dental fluorosis in children. Including this point and then refuting it with evidence that dental fluorosis is rare and often minor adhered to the principles of accuracy and fairness in good journalism. 

In 2002, Tom Philip wrote opinion pieces focused on the restoration of Hetch Hetchy, a valley in Yosemite (Wyss, 2008, 173). In these pieces, he relied heavily on technical and environmental reasons that the dam creating the reservoir should be removed. He was accurate in his technical reasoning while still voicing an opinion about the correct course of action. He also included the opposition in his opinion pieces and refuted their points (Wyss, 2008, 173). In doing this, Philip was thorough, balanced, and fair. 

Another example of editorials being good journalism is “The Disaster We Must Think About Every Day” by Tressie McMillian Cottom of the New York Times. (McMillian Cottom, 2021). This is an opinion piece focused on climate change and how individuals take few steps to combat it. In this article, she interviews an expert, Dr. Anya Elizabeth Johnson, about how individuals can help combat climate change. She then follows this by imploring readers to act, even knowing that we need action at a government level to truly combat climate change. In her article, she is accurate, providing the readers with facts about climate change. She is also thorough, explaining different reasons why some people might not take steps to reduce their carbon footprint and then refuting these reasons. This piece is less factually based than the other two examples, focusing more on actions she will take to combat climate change. Despite this, she gives her opinion while adhering to the 6 characteristics of good journalism. 

Sources

McMillian Cottom, Tressie. Sept. 17, 2021. The Disaster We Must Think About Every Day. The New York Times. Digital. 

Wyss, Bob. Covering the environment: How journalists work the green beat. New York: 

Routledge, 2008. Print.

This blog post was updated 12/8/2021 to include hyperlinks and to go into more depth on The Disaster We Must Think About Every Day.