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| Los Angeles Times editorial in The News & Observer, 4-19-2020 |
All The News That's Fit To Print—New York Times slogan
All The News That Fits, We Print—Sarcastic NY Times slogan
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Just
as those who prefer holding a book in their hands to read, we prefer the
printed newspaper over the on-line version and even the so-called e-edition, a
replica of the actual newspaper found on the newspaper’s website.
These
days, with so much of the news about and stories written on the coronavirus and
it’s COVID-19 illness, we look forward to the comics but much more to the opinion
pages—the editorial and op-ed pages as they are called—than we do the news
section with coronavirus stories ad infinitum, not to mention ad nauseam, and
the sports pages where results of the previous night contests are missing (joke
here; laugh).
The
N&O opinion department is pretty good with offering a variety of local opinions
and national columnists. Also included are editorial positions from other
newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times.
It
was one from the LA Times that caught my attention and gave me the urge to
write this post.
With
the headline, Higher education to feel virus’ effects for a long time,
the LAT editorial touched on the current state of education with college on-line substitutes for in-person classes, the disadvantages the disadvantaged have because of lack
of resources for on-line education, the affordability of today’s college, and
the economic resources colleges are missing today, all because of the
coronavirus.
“The
higher education system can certainly try to return to normal after the
virus-related restrictions are lifted and the economy bounces back, but why
bother?” the LA Times Editorial Board wrote. “Normal wasn’t so hot.”
One
paragraph later, the editorial as printed in The N&O ended, but something
was missing. I was expecting well thought out and reasoned recommendations of
what to do to make higher education better, even if just in the minds of the LA
Times Editorial Board. It didn’t take me long to land on the LA Times’ website
editorial page where I found at the end of their printed version these three
robust paragraphs:
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There are too many misplaced
priorities. U.S. colleges spend particularly large amounts on non-teaching
staff such as fundraising experts, marketers and administrators; they also
pursue costly star faculty and smaller class sizes, which haven’t been shown to
result in a superior education but do result in higher college rankings by such
publications as U.S. News & World Report. Our colleges generally expect too
much paper-publishing by faculty and not enough teaching. And their financial
aid practices are generally obscure and differ from school to school, so
families have little idea how to shop for the most affordable options.
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| The N&O Op-Ed Page, 4-19-2020, With plenty of space top & bottom |
The
full-on European model might never work here. The emphasis U.S. colleges place
on faculty research has helped make our research universities the envy of the
world. Commuting isn’t an option when schools might be far away. It would take
big tax increases to underwrite free tuition for all. But we can use the
current crisis to address an ailing system by adopting practices that lower
costs and emphasize the “education” in higher education.
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The N&O did not include the complete
editorial from the LA Times. McClatchy Co., the bankrupt media organization, had
purposely removed the final three paragraphs so the editorial would fit into the
designated space on The N&O op-ed page.
What used to be a make-up/layout person with an “exacto” knife and is now that same person, not a qualified editor, in front of a computer screen showing the layout pages and with a finger on a delete button. This is the person deciding that I had read enough in the print edition and in the newspaper’s e-edition, even if the conclusion and recommendations were removed.
What used to be a make-up/layout person with an “exacto” knife and is now that same person, not a qualified editor, in front of a computer screen showing the layout pages and with a finger on a delete button. This is the person deciding that I had read enough in the print edition and in the newspaper’s e-edition, even if the conclusion and recommendations were removed.
This is not unusual. But today was
different.
News articles and opinion pieces not
generated by staff writers get edited for space all the time. What we read Sunday
was the result of filling the available space; the three final paragraphs were eliminated
because there was no more space. Cut, slash, burn!
The President and Executive Editor of The N&O and the North Carolina Opinion Editor do not claim credit for this. They kick the can back to a make-up/layout department that creates the newspaper for Raleigh,
The Charlotte Observer, and other McClatchy newspapers. Editing to make sense
of the story/editorial requires too much time and a grasp of the subject
matter. It's also a financial burden, reader be damned.
Interestingly, on that Sunday op-ed page
there was about nine column inches of white space—six inches at the top of the
page and three at the bottom—plenty of space for the lost words and interesting
suggestions made by the LA Times Editorial Board.
The very next day, the same thing
happened to a George Will column from the Washington Post. His article was
titled, State shows how not to hold election during a pandemic. If you read
the column and wonder what is missing, here goes:
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Wyden and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.,
propose legislation to mandate and subsidize state measures to facilitate VBM.
Although subsidies in today's emergency might be defensible, mandates unwisely
— and unnecessarily — meddle with the laboratories.
New Hampshire's Republican Gov. Chris
Sununu has endorsed VBM. Elections in Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Colorado and
Utah are essentially entirely VBM, with ballots mailed to eligible voters.
Twenty-eight other states, including California, Florida and Arizona, plus the
District of Columbia, allow absentee voting without providing a reason. So, a
majority of Americans have VBM, absent the convenience of automatically
receiving ballots — although some states' voters can put themselves on a list
to receive ballots. This alarms those who fear the sort of substantial fraud
that has not been verified after hundreds of millions of votes cast by mail.
Time was, Election Day provided a
communitarian moment, with almost all voters visiting polling places. In 2016
however, 41.3% of votes were cast early or absentee; in 2018, 43.1%; in 2020,
perhaps a majority. This year early voting will begin at least as early
(because of COVID-19, states' rules are in flux) as Sept. 18 in Minnesota.
Scores of millions of votes might be cast before the presidential debates are
over. However, given the usual caliber of such debates, this will not
appreciably deprive early voters of pertinent information.
When Trump says VBM would mean
"you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again," he
concedes that VBM increases turnout and that Wisconsin Republicans are right
about the party's appeal: The larger the turnout, the less likely a Republican
majority.
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This treatment by McClatchy (The News
& Observer) of its readers is not necessary. These opinion pieces could run
in their entirety. Continue the columns on another page for heavens sake!
Since 1896, The New York Times’
slogan has been All the News That's Fit to Print.
There’s also a
sarcastic phrasing of that NYT slogan, and it apparently applies to McClatchy
(The News & Observer): All the News that fits, we print.
Thank goodness
for the internet that readers can find and read what The N&O leaves out.
