glossary: July 2007 Archives

A primary goal of news reporting, in which the coverage aims to state the the whole truth as accurately as possible, fairly representing the range of opinions of the people involved with the story, without passing judgment and without advocating the personal opinion of the author (see "bias").

A short article that represents the official collective position of the editorial board of a newspaper. More generally, an editorial is a special genre of journalism that aims to inform, persuade, and/or entertain. 

Like other forms of journalism, an editorial uses quotes, facts, and logic to inform readers, and its content is still covered by ethical principles (see "libel" and "privacy"). Unlike most journalism, an editorial presents an opinion, which means advocating one solution over the solution offered by your political opponents.

Opinions that the editors express on the editorial page should stay there -- they should not affect the news coverage (see "objectivity"). Individual reporters shouldn't slant their stories to reflect or rebut editorial opinions.

You can [get intimate with] an elephant if you want to, but if you do you can't cover the circus. -- The (Abe) Rosenthal Rule

A conflict of interest arises when someone who is expected to act impartially may have a reason (emotional, financial, etc.) to act otherwise. In every case, a conflict of interest is a real problem -- even if nobody misbehaves.

Thus, a lawyer who has defended a client in the past cannot be hired to prosecute that same client; a surgeon should not operate on a family member, and a reporter should not cover any news story in which he or she has a personal involvement.

The tendency of journalism students to summarize an event from beginning to end, rather than ordering details according to importance. Just as you wouldn't start a sports story by reporting that when the game began the score was 0-0, you don't cover a speech by reporting the names of all the people who thanked each other for working so hard to bring the guest speaker here tonight.