Senior journalism major
There’s an inherent insignificance to the opinion page of a college newspaper.
As someone who has devoted at least 15 hours a week to editing this opinion page for the past seven months, that’s a pretty tough realization. But it’s true.
In the digital age, when anyone can write, read, post and share any opinions they want at any time, what’s the point of giving 16 college students a “columnist” platform to share their views? What makes them smarter? Who cares what I think about Syria and Obama, or even the Purple Line and Wallace Loh?
I’ve thought about this a lot, ever since accepting the opinion editor position back in March 2013. And I’ve thought about it throughout my time in the role: What’s the purpose? What’s the point? Fortunately, I think I have a few ideas.
Over the last two semesters, we have published only a few extremely controversial columns. In some of these columns, I disagreed with almost every single opinionated statement made. Judging from my Facebook News Feed, many of my friends did, too.
It’s uncomfortable to run columns that go against what I believe in. And it’s uncomfortable to read them. But the intense response, backlash and conversation surrounding these pieces helps me believe we made the right call to publish them.
The opinion page of The Diamondback is not meant to provide definitive answers. Instead, it’s meant to highlight individual viewpoints from diverse members of the campus community. It’s meant to spark discussions, inspire conversations, and invite responses. Essentially, the page should be an open forum.
And it has been. When we received letters to the editor or guest columns, even those with controversial viewpoints, we almost always published them (as long as they were written with clarity and related to relevant issues). That means we’ve run a lot of columns I personally disagree with, and if I was a reader, I would be outraged about. But we’ve also run plenty of pieces that are inspiring, interesting and thoughtful.
Which brings me to another point. Those who cite one article as a reflection on The Diamondback’s content overall are just not paying close enough attention. The controversial posts always get the most feedback, but the good columns often fly under the radar. When you see one column that outrages you floating around Facebook, it’s fine to criticize that piece – but remember that we’ve been running columns every day, all year, probably 90 percent of which you would agree with or can relate to.
More than anything, these days of passionate, intense backlash and responses have helped prove one thing to me: People actually do read the opinion page! Sometimes, at least.
