This page is for opinions – make yours known, too

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Posted: Wednesday, February 15th, 2012 at 8:10 am | Last Updated: Wednesday, February 15th, 2012 at 11:12 am
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Right now, you are reading the staff editorial — the opinion of The Oakland Post’s editorial board.

And it’s exactly that. An opinion.

Last week’s editorial created a stir on our website. Between it and the unfortunate death of Ron DeRoo, we collected 90 comments — something unusual for a normal news week.

After reading some of the comments, we realized many people were confused about what an editorial is and what a journalist is supposed to do.

Maybe we’re just being presumptuous by expecting everyone to know the difference between the two, but we don’t mean to be.

For those that don’t know, this page is devoted to the opinions of The Oakland Post editorial board. It starts our perspectives section, which is full of columns and opinion pieces from various staff members, faculty members and students.

You have your chance to voice your opinions, too.

The Oakland Post accepts letters to the editor, perspectives and comments on our website. There, you have a chance to either agree or disagree with what we say or let your voice be heard.

The editorial board collects opinion pieces on a myriad of topics. Just let us know if you have any ideas.

As journalists, our ultimate goal is providing news to the general public — good or bad.

On this page, we’re able to do it in a way that allows us to take a stand on whichever issue we feel strongest about.

Each week, the editorial board gets together to plan the editorial for the next week’s issue.

Though we usually try to write about concerns often relating to stories in the current issue, we aim to write about what we think is important and significant.

And sometimes through our research we come across facts that trouble us.

We’re not into “gotcha journalism” but we do try to uphold our watchdog role.

And we’re not the only ones that should be paying attention to these issues.

Everything we discuss pertains to you.

In upcoming issues of The Oakland Post, we will be dissecting many different topics:

— AAUP and Oakland University contract negotiations. We’re curious to see how this period plays out. Last time, there was a strike before a decision was made.

— Parking issues. What’s going to happen when cars collide for parking lot one after the Human Health and new dorm buildings are finished?

— Retention rates. How do Oakland University students compare to other schools?

— Tuition for next year. Increase, decrease, evaporate?

— Administrator salaries. How much do the people in the presidential cabinet make? How much do they compare to other salaries?

— The moat at the Human Health Building. Yes, a moat. See this week’s Mouthing Off. There’s more to come from us, later.

  • Owen O’Connor

    I’m going to start this comment by just saying I do not want this to blow up like last weeks editorial comments but I would like to get MY opinion out. It’s true that the article from last week was blown out of proportion and it got a little heated down in this comment section. However, I don’t think the problem was that people don’t understand what an editorial is. The title of this article is “This page is for opinions-makes yours known, too”. It is stated further down that as students we have a chance to voice our opinions too. Whether it be writing a letter to the editor, comments, etc. That is exactly what the comments from last weeks editorial were. They were people’s opinions on that editorial. If you allow other people to give their opinions on a topic, you must be willing to accept that there will probably be disagreements. I just didn’t see the acceptance of other people’s views last week from either side.

    Again, I do not want to see this turn into a big problem but I am curious to hear what other people think about this.

  • John

    Just curious why is the editorial board giving opinions and then pretty much telling the readers they are not smart enough to know the difference between a editorial and a opinion? Seems a bit condescending towards your readers.

    I’m also sure that real journalists research what they write before they post it; not what they can fit in between classes just to post something. It seems like the editorial page is nothing more than an over exaggerated blog that editors use to complain more than to actually state facts, findings and constructed arguments –good or bad.

    As a reader perhaps the editors are confused between an editorial page and a livejournal blog. Maybe we’re just being presumptuous by expecting editors to know the difference between the two, but as readers we expect them to know the difference.

  • Christine Aranda

    I think that this is a really fantastic editorial.

  • emily

    Wow. Way to be rude to your readers. Having a different opinion doesn’t make your readership stupid. If anything it means your writing something that is controversial. Or, if we’re talking about last weeks article, it means half the article isn’t even accurate. Maybe if you didn’t have so many errors you wouldn’t get so many complaints.

  • Rick

    Dear Oakland Post,
    Thank you for clarifying what an editorial is. I am glad that the Post staff was able to rise above recent criticism with such composure. It is so frustrating hearing people on campus and especially in these comments complaining and criticizing the Post when they don’t even have their facts straight about what an editorial is composed of. In reference to last week’s editorial, the Post did an excellent job researching their facts and appropriately formatting them into an editorial. Yes, as a news story, it would have been controversial because it is an opinion-based subject, but that is exactly why it was not an article. The facts all check out, and now it has become a game of bullying because OUSC was caught in the act of deceiving and doesn’t want to admit to misuse of its finances. If anything, between this new editorial and last weeks, I have more respect for the Oakland Post for keeping their cool as best as they have when taking the rude and misguided remarks that they have received from ignorant people. The past is the past, both the Post and OUSC have a clean slate ahead of them. With this editorial, the Post is clarifying their practices and bettering themselves, as for the OUSC, only time will show if they can redeem themselves but lets just say I am not holding my breath with the current leadership.

    Rick

  • Christine Aranda

    Rick, you’ve done a wonderful job of articulating your opinion, I completely agree with you.

  • Kevin Romanchik

    Emily- If you believe there was some errors, we’d be happy to look over your claims. The Oakland Post has maintained respect with handling errors.

    Feel free to email editor@oaklandpostonline.com

    Kevin Romanchik
    Sports Editor

  • Professional journalist

    Perhaps SOME of you know the difference between editorial and news article, but it’s abundantly clear that that is not the case for a great number of people.

    It’s not condescension, as “John” argues. It’s a legitimate distinction that requires full understanding. If you don’t think you needed clarification, then good for you. But as evidenced by some of the comments that spawned from previous editorials and a general misunderstanding many people have about the role of journalists, not everyone gets it. Not even close.

    — Professional journalist

  • Donovan Wentworth

    @Kevin: I think you meant “If you believe there WERE some errors”. Maybe I’m just a picky reader, but since my freshman year I’ve learned that there are in fact THREE certainties in life: death, taxes, and typographical errors in The Oakland Post. You may not specifically be responsible for copyediting, but I think everyone who contributes to the paper should be more grammatically vigilant. I’ve only scanned this latest issue for instance, yet I still managed to notice that the article about the new engineering building enjoyed spelling “enrollment” in a variety of different ways. This has no bearing on the discussion at hand, but SOMEONE needed to say it.

    That aside, I have to agree with Owen’s comment. It doesn’t seem to me that the problem was a lack of understanding of what an editorial is. When you ask for readers’ opinions you should be prepared to accept the results, come what may. Many readers were of the opinion that your editorial was faulty. You can try to dismiss that, assuring yourselves that they’re simply naïve and unsophisticated readers, thereby absolving yourselves of any need for self-reflection or -improvement… Or, you can listen carefully, set your pride aside, and maybe recognize that they’re telling you something meaningful.

    Who knows? It might even make The Post a better paper.

  • John

    Well put Donovan.

  • John

    What qualifications do you need to become a “Professional Journalist”? – Good grammar, punctuation and spelling? At least at the bare minimum you should hit F7 to run spell check on your work before you hit send/post on your articles.

  • Robert

    John, those are far down the list of job skills required for journalists. What typos you may find in The Post have little to do with the issue at hand.