The View from Here – What is the Editorial?

Have you read the paper and looked at the weak topic that we often choose to cover for our Editorial in the last few issues and thought to yourself “what the hell is the Editorial?” If so then here is the chance to learn more about it.

By its very nature the Editorial is usually written covering a topic that the staff, or as it happens in larger media organization a select group of individuals, has decided on.This group is known as the “Editorial Staff.”

These men and women are chosen to represent the views of everyone on staff while calling to attention issues and problems that are of interest to their readers.

However due to the small size of the staff on campus, in which we have roughly 20 students in the whole program, then the letter is more of the case. That said, it must be kept in mind that reality does not always meet the expectations that we set for ourselves. Does not every student have the chance or time or interest in adding any input every two weeks on the Editorial? No.

It may seem odd but this is a simple reality. At the end of the day we, the members of the The Skyline View, are still students who need time for homework, classes, work, and to take part in something close to a stable and healthy social life. Otherwise we’ll all be raving mad editors and reporters.

This aside, the Editorial is the means in which a newspaper staff may voice their concerns about issues and problems affecting society and to call attention to them so that readers may be inspired, or at least be aware of them, in the future. After all, at the end of the day, both the reader and the writer are humans. No one is perfect.

Looking back in history, a good example would be the Civil Rights Movement, or in more recent memory, the cuts in funding by the state as it attempted to deal with the fallout from the recession in 2008. Another would be the one covered in last issues paper, in which the ability of two years colleges to issue bachelor degrees for certain majors is been tested and considered.

It is these events, for example, that the Editorial usually covers and need to be brought to the readers attention because there is the chance that it will impact their lives or so that they, the reader, can make better informed decisions in the future with whatever path they are pursuing.

Overall the Editorial function allows the staff of a media organization to call to readers attention the issues and problems that need to be addressed by society, a community or by readers.

This is the power of the Editorial, the ability to bring ideas to mind and make readers aware of the issues that are effecting society or there community so that changes can actually be made improving the society that we live in.