An op-ed article, short for “opinions and editorials page,” expresses an author’s opinion that does not have to be aligned with the editorial board. An op-ed is not required to be written by a staff journalist of the newspaper either. In fact, it does not have to be written by a journalist at all. Rather, it is supposed to demonstrate an author’s firm, informed, and clearly defined perspective on a problem and is highly relevant to the target audience. One of the most well-known New York Times journalists, Thomas Friedman, explains that he relies on the three critical components in his opinion columns: ideals, the forces that move the “machine,” and the people and culture (Friedman, 2017). As op-eds are written to cause a reaction in readers, they differ from other forms of journalism by high subjectivity and strong author’s voice.
As media is sometimes called “the fourth estate,” it highlights that media is subjective per se, and opinions published in newspapers are powerful enough to change the course of events. This is why Friedman notes that the author’s ideals are essential in his work: the opinion article thus always is seen in a particular ideological framework. The columnist also mentions “a machine,”; perhaps, a printing machine that produces printed newspaper pages (Friedman, 2017). While the press has the power to influence people, people have the power to influence the press. This suggestion is essential for understanding that opinionated or subjective writing does not equal biased or not independent press.
On the contrary, the freedom of opinions and the media’s influence are crucial for a society’s health. Lastly, Friedman mentions people and culture as an ingredient of his opinion writings; by this, he means his target audience, which means the global audience in the case of the New York Times. It often happens that people regularly read opinion articles written by authors with whom they agree. As I am a liberal with moderate-left views, I agree with authors on the same side of the political spectrum. The most important thing for an op-ed to be credible is that the article has to demonstrate thorough research and address other points of view. For example, I am always inspired by Nick Kristof’s perspective on social inequality. In his piece on how the COVID-19 pandemic can bring hope to Americans, the renowned columnist strictly follows traditional rules for an op-ed (Kristof, 2020).
References
Friedman, T. (2017). How to write an op-ed for the New York Times [Video]. Web.
Kristof, N. (2020). We interrupt this gloom to offer … hope. The New York Times. Web.