Two new things to watch for on the Opinion page
In coming days, we'll be making a couple of adjustments to our Opinion page that will expand the variety in voices on major topics of discussion but will slightly alter some of our presentation.
You'll notice the first this Saturday. For almost exactly 21 years (the project started on Sept. 7, 2002), we've topped the Saturday editorial page with a collection of items reflecting in no more than a few dozen words on a wide range of topics. The effort was intended to recognize that people read the Saturday newspaper a little differently than other days, so a lighter take on various subjects could be engaging and entertaining without necessarily feeling too demanding.
The feature served its purpose well, but after more than two decades, the time has come to try something new that can fit with the spirit of the Saturday paper but perhaps also offer a different kind of variety of perspectives. So, beginning this Saturday, we'll publish across the top of the Opinion page edited "Views from Elsewhere" that will offer excerpts of opinions on important topics from editorial boards across the state and the nation.
These editorials will not necessarily reflect the views of the Daily Herald editorial board. They may at times even radically conflict with views we've published. But they will provide an opportunity to see what topics are generating public discussion in other communities and to examine how newspapers elsewhere are evaluating the issues they desire to discuss and influence. I think you'll find it an intriguing component of the Opinion page.
A second adjustment you will notice will come on Thursdays, when my "Letter to Readers" column that you are reading now - and have been reading in a column position since July 1999 - will move to the top of the page in place of our regular "Our View" editorial. A key benefit of this rotation is that it will allow us to publish additional perspectives from our syndicated columnists and from an ever growing number of experts and thought leaders who appeal to us for opportunities to offer insights and generate interest in important social and political topics.
I tell you bluntly that, though we will brand the column clearly as a "Letter to Readers," the new presentation will take some getting used to for me. This column has always been an intriguing blend of personal opinion and institutional reflection. I have deliberately avoided staking out the usual territory of what used to be called a "newspaper ombudsman," in which an editor critiqued the journalistic decisions of his colleagues. I've preferred to explain the journalistic goals we've pursued with various issues we've covered or to discuss the thinking that infuses our journalism generally. In that role, I've often spoken for the paper, but I've also brought a distinctly personal approach that may not always reflect the consensus view our editorial board would come to on the topic of the moment.
That will continue to be my objective from a strip across the top of the page, and I hope it will continue to be clear that I am speaking for myself as a senior editor at the Daily Herald but not for the paper per se.
Adjustments to routine always can challenge one's comfort zone. I hope you'll quickly find that these changes add some new flavor to the Opinion page, as well as some opportunities to examine more topics in new ways.
As always, I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts about them as they develop into our new routine.
jslusher@dailyherald.com