The Retort

Is the Opinion Section Making the Cut?

November 18th, 2011 by Heidi Leritz Of The Retort Staff

It has recently come to my attention that the Opinion articles being run in The Retort are under attack. Feedback is very important to The Retort and will not be ignored. However, the feedback that we are receiving in the office has recently become increasingly negative. From this we can only infer that we must be doing something wrong. Most of the comments include statements such as the pieces are not factual, the writers are only expressing one opinion, and that our writers are too narrow minded.

First of all, I believe it is important to be informed before making accusations. I would like to highlight the criterion for an opinion editorial as outlined by the United States Students Association. Opinion editorials should include the following: written by someone who has clout, focus on timely issues, issue is to be clearly stated with a solution and an action plan, full name and contact information should be provided, host an intriguing title, and most importantly, “your opinion editorial must be more personal than academic.”

In defense of our writers, I would like to rate The Retort on these criterions and decide whether or not things are being done correctly.

• Are the articles written by someone with clout? - In this case I would have to say we receive an A+ because our writers are certainly not afraid to state what their opinions are.
• Are the issues timely? - The topics tend to be tired arguments; however they remain topics of interest at this point in time.
• Clearly stating the issue, solution, and action - I think this is something that we could work on. Rather than ranting about the problem alone, a solution and suggested action plan should be incorporated.
• Providing full contact information - Our editor’s names are on all of their pieces and although we do not give out person contact information - they can be contacted through The Retort.
• Hosting an intriguing title - This is something The Retort tries to do with every article whether it is in the Opinion section or not.
• Lastly, opinion editorials should be more personal than academic - We have received the most complaints about, the pieces are not factual. The word opinion can be defined as a personal view, a personal attitude, or a personal appraisal. Whichever way it is taken, it is based on an individual perspective.

With that said, it seems as though we are not doing so bad after all. On another token, I can certainly understand that our readers are taking offense to some of the pieces. As for my opinion on the topic, I do not agree with many of the viewpoints that are published in the issues. This, however, does not mean that I should not publish them because I individually do not agree.

Another issue that we have been presented with is that our writers are not presenting professional writing. I can vouch for the fact that our pieces are not the most professional. This is the item that is on the top of our list of things to improve.

I would like to remind everyone that although the feedback has been negative recently, we value it every bit as much as the positive feedback. If it were not for the readers who have gotten fired up about some of the opinion articles we would not have the opportunity to improve on anything.

Although, before condemning our writers, I encourage our readers to think of what one would do in their position if given the chance. To close I would like to leave with a quote to remind us that not everyone is perfect.

“He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.” – Abraham Lincoln