Opinion Content May Be Trimmed. Duh?!

Disclaimer on the editorial page
of The News & Observer (Raleigh NC)

On April 19, in my blog, Actions and Reactions II, I wrote about editing (actually butchering) of op-ed opinion columns in The News & Observer. 
The story, All The News That's Fit or All The News That Fits (click the title to read), addresses how The N&O, deliberately and recklessly reduces the work of well-known and insightful columnists to basic lip-service in the name of making sure the column fits the available space in the print edition (and therefore the e-edition) of the newspaper.

For several weeks and possibly months, the newspaper's publishers, executive editors, managing editors, and editorial staff said the reason for short-changing its readership with cutting meaningful and crucial parts of the columns was to make the story fit on the editorial page, usually the story across the bottom of the page.

Those newspaper officials claim to make some attempts at keeping the overall gist of the op-ed material while at other times the column ran in its original state until space ran out. That's when the exacto knife was used to end the story, never in mid-sentence but it might as well have been, sometimes leaving white space at the end.

Sometimes, after reading the newspaper, I researched the author and the subject and seek out the original story, scanning the two versions side-by-side to examine the differences and to digest the entire opinion. When complaining to the various staff, they all blamed it on the page make-up production department, saying they have no control over the edits. After a few complaints, the responses began, "As explained to you previously..." Not much to do after that but laugh. In many cases, the conclusion (punchline) of the column was cut, leaving the reader dangling.

McClatchy (The N&O owner) is a media company in bankruptcy. The N&O has reduced its Monday, Tuesday and Thursday papers to 16 pages, much of it filled with the coronavirus and COVID-19 and obituaries. The Wednesday and Friday/Saturday combo are 20 pages; and its Sunday newspaper is maybe 24-28 pages. Each day, there's a reduction of the good work of respected journalists to rubble, all in the name of what, just filling space.

Running a few additional letters to the opinion forum would be more interesting. The newspaper could possibly save a few bucks by unsubscribing to syndicated editorial sources which would be better than to dish-off its pension obligations as it's trying to do in its bankruptcy proceedings. It has decided to reduce its content to its customers.

And, at the same time, McClatchy newspapers (and newspapers every where) are pleading for additional financial support through national efforts for donations. Ask for money; cut content. Maybe that's the slogan McClatchy needs to embrace.

Not sure when it happened, but in the last few weeks, The N&O included a disclaimer to its editorial page: Opinion content from syndicated sources may be trimmed from the original length to fit available space. Did I cause that? I like to think I contributed to it being added.

Cutting to fit available space is one thing; reducing content that changes the writers opinion is another. Every time a column is cut to fit the space, the opinion of the writer is altered. It's doubtful the editors in the page layout room discuss the changes before cutting to fit the space.

The staff of The N&O takes no credit for the butcher job on syndicated sources on the opinion pages. At the very least by understanding what's been cut (looking for the same column printed by other sources) we are told the used outside opinions simply fit the space instead of it being fit to print in its entirety.