Opinion Writing

The ASNE Opinion Journalism committee strives to serve those who practice, supervise, study, or seriously aspire to doing fact-based commentary journalism.

The Masthead 2017

Newest articles:

Editor’s note – D.C. recap and planning for 2018
- Hang in there through all those holiday deadlines.
What editors should know about media and real-world violence
- Concerns about violence in computer games are nothing new. But does the evidence support these sensationalist headlines?
Pitts to journalists: ‘Stop being so damn polite”
- Leonard Pitts took the roomful of journalists to task: “I’m here to ask you to stop being so damn polite!!”
Department of State Briefings
- Official: China key to restraining North Korea
  - Only China has the clout to effectively eliminate the money North Korean leader Kim Jong-un needs to develop nuclear weapons.
- Kayalec: U.S. must remain firm with Putin
  - "I think what we can do is be firm, consistent, and indicate that we’re prepared to deal on the basis of kind of honest communication[.]"
- General: Defeating ISIL will take time
  - Terry Wolff postulates that the caliphate idea is crumbling while saying the terrorists will claim it is succeeding.
- Nafta: No progress on ‘rebalancing’
  - The chief U.S. trade representative was quoted as saying neither Canada nor Mexico was willing “to seriously engage” on “a rebalanced agreement.”
- Business diplomacy: The power to convene
  - As more small- and midsized companies stake their claims, cultivating relationships can be equally important for U.S. diplomats promoting business interests abroad.
EdWrite Recap: Fact checking letters to the editor
- Editors talked about a variety of approaches to fact-checking letters to the editor this past month on the opinion writers discussion list.
From the archives -- Endorsements: See what you missed?
- Masthead and the opinion writer-editors’ online discussion list have generated huge amounts of material about editorial endorsements of candidates and issues.