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Editors Expect Editorial Pages to Remain Vital in the Year 2000

Editorial page editors confident of future for their pages. Editorials and editorial pages have continued to perform vital roles at most daily newspapers in the United States during the 1980s.1 They may not thunder as they once did or have the influence sometimes attributed to them in the past; but they are read, and many persons assert that they do still have an impact on public opinion.2 Mohn and McCombs found, for example, that 85% of those who read a newspaper every day read the editorial page "to feel that I am participating in current affairs."3 Influence is difficult to document. For instance, studies disagree on the possible influence of political endorsements.4 But it appears that editorials and editorial pages do help readers focus on issues and, at times, by providing information and benchmarks, they help readers make decisions. Legitimate concerns have been expressed, however, about the ability of editorials, editorial pages and newspapers generally to reach generations reared on television. To what extent must editors change the approach, content, and appearance of the editorial pages to retain their vitality? Should they write shorter editorials with more punch in them, take more and stronger stands, give more space to reader opinion, use more graphics and color, employ more women and minorities to write editorials and columns, or what? The need for better writing and greater diversity in personnel has received attention. William David Sloan, in introducing a collection of more than 50 years of Pulitzer Prize editorials, said the most obvious characteristic of many of them is their "ordinariness." He said a "large number of them seem to have at least one of two common problems: dullness of writing and lack of unity. Dullness seems much more prevalent today than in the early years of the award."5 Editorial page editors responding to a national survey in the early 1980s cited "blandness and poor writing" as a principal concern.6 Others have suggested that more women, minorities and young persons be added to editorial staffs, which often are composed of white males in their 40s and 50s who have similar views.7 As indicated in one or two of the studies cited above, some newspapers have recognized the challenge and are taking steps to retain, or regain, their vitality. All need to. This study is designed to determine what editors and editorial page editors of major United States dailies expect in the 1990s and beyond and what steps they are taking and planning to assure their continued effectiveness. Method A four-page questionnaire, composed mostly of multiple choice and shortanswer questions, was mailed together with a short cover letter to editorial page editors of all daily newspapers with 100,000 or more circulation listed in Editor & Publisher Yearbook. Approximately a month after the first mailing, a questionnaire and short cover letter were sent to those that had not responded, and approximately a month later a questionnaire and short cover letter were sent to those that still had not responded. Usable responses were received from 61, or 53.5% of the editors. Research Questions. The questions can be organized into six groups of variables. These include roles and policies, readership and influence, content and appearance, space allocations, personnel, and trends and issues. Results Roles and Policies. Almost everyone strongly agreed (74%) or agreed (25%) that editorial pages will remain an essential part of daily newspapers in the year 2000. About two-thirds strongly agreed ( 13%) or agreed (54%) that most editorials will be addressed to broad audiences because the groups of influential persons who read newspapers and influence other persons change with the issues; more (20%) took a neutral position than disagreed (10%) or strongly disagreed (3%). Most (59%) agreed that the majority of editorials would concentrate on local issues. Almost all strongly agreed (48%) or agreed (48%) that most newspapers would provide a variety of opinions (a forum) on their editorial pages. …