Comm455/History of Journalism

There are four types of opinion pieces in newspapers:

1. Editorials– The written opinion of an editor, an editorial board, or of the political leanings of the entire organization
2. Cartoons– Illustrations that appear in the paper poking fun at current events, often expresses the opinion of the artist
3. Columns– A regularly printed series of articles of the opinions of a writer.
4. Letters to the Editor– Letters written by readers that express their opinion either supporting or against that of the editorials

I also decided to link examples of each of these from the The Washington Post about the midterm elections yesterday.

1. Editorial– An editorial supporting President Obama after the results of the midterms.
2. Cartoon– Below is a cartoon from Tom Toles at The Washington Post.
3. Column– Here’s a link to Greg Sargent’s column, The Plum Line, at The Washington Post.
4. Letter to the Editor– At the time of writing this, there were not Letters to the Editor about the midterm elections, so here’s two letters about the way Metro handled the Stewart/Colbert Rally this weekend.