ABSTRACT
The editorial and op-ed (opposite-editorial) pages are central to a newspaper’s identity. They are the only place in the paper where journalists are authorised to express opinion, often guided by the political leanings of the newspaper (Wahl-Jorgensen 2004, p.59). It is in editorials that newspapers speak both for and to their audience, creating a distinctive voice for the newspaper that is otherwise buried under the conventions of objective journalism (Fowler 1991, p.209). To Santo ‘the most precise barometer of a newspaper’s position on political and social questions is assumed to reside on the editorial page – the heart, soul, and conscience of the newspaper’ (1994, p.94). Opinion journalism of this sort allows media the ‘power to set the dominant political agenda, as elaborated over weeks, months and years … In this capacity the institutions of the press take the lead in establishing the dominant interpretative frameworks within which ongoing political events are made sense of’ (McNair 2000, p.30). Through the features of opinion journalism, including editorials, columns and letters to the editor, newspapers can contribute to shaping and articulating public opinion.
