In the beginning there was the op-ed. The op-ed begot the
blog. And the blog begot the talkback.
The first op-eds, as we know them, ran on September 21, 1970
in The New York Times. The editors were frank in telling readers that
their purpose was not to “counterbalance” the newspaper’s views, nor to provide
a platform opposite the editorial page for those who disagreed with the
editorial line.
The idea, the paper explained, was for outsiders to
diversify the paper’s own stable of columnists.
The raison d'etre was diversity
not balance.
That first batch of op-eds saw economist W.W. Rostow writing
about the military budget; Gerald Johnson of The New Republic poking fun at the
Nixon White House, and China-expert Han Suyin (Elizabeth Comber) writing from
“Peking.” All this alongside Anthony Lewis’s regular column.
For 46 years now, those of us in a love-hate relationship
with the Times have been kvetching that its op-ed pages are unbalanced.
Truth is, though, they were never meant to be otherwise. Indeed, most days you
would be hard pressed to find even a single viewpoint that is categorically
opposed by the newspaper.
Take the four op-eds running on November 28, 2016. In-house
columnist Paul Krugman warns that Donald Trump is positioning himself to use
the power of the presidency to expand his personal wealth. Contributor Achy
Obejas, a Cuban-American, writes about how ambivalent he feels over the death
of Fidel Castro. Policy wonk Christopher Daggett addresses the Federal
Communications Commission’s decision to auction public airwaves. And Douglas
Harris, an economist, decries the appointment of Betsy DeVos as education
secretary.
The Times editorial page has historically been
antagonistic toward Israeli policies. This outlook is echoed by columnists
Roger Cohen and Tom Friedman – with outside contributors sometimes piling on.
In 2016, Israel’s ambassador, Ron Dermer appeared on the
op-ed pages once — in a letter to the editor. Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny
Danon got three letters published.
The Times, as the flagship of the liberal media, is
an easy target. My hunch is that any analysis of The Wall Street Journal’s
op-ed pages would turn up a similar policy, only in the conservative direction.
Since the late 1990s, the Internet has fostered a deluge of
voices though not a torrent of counterbalancing opinion.
Of course some
platforms abjure being pigeonholed, but in the main right-wing writers and
readers seek out right-wing sites; left-wing writers and readers seek out
left-wing sites.
The real purpose of the blog and talk-back is not to
counterbalance but to drive Internet traffic. Not only do bloggers write for
free — they use their own so
cial media channels to promote the sites that run
them thus generating more page views and unique visitors.
In 1921, Manchester Guardian editor C.P. Scott (pictured left) coined
the phrase “comment is free,” adding that “the voice of opponents no less than
that of friends has a right to be heard.”
Maybe that’s a credo belatedly worth resurrecting.
