An op-ed on “op-ed”…
The NY Times, for some insane reason, recently decided to use “guest essay” in place of “op-ed.” Let’s ignore the fact that most writers posting articles to the Times two opinion pages aren’t “guests”—they’re paid contributors who regularly post their opinions there. Instead, I’ll analyze why this new policy is insane.
I was expecting more blowback about their stupid decision. There was a bit, but it certainly missed the points I will put forth in this article. The Times‘s decision is an arrogant attempt to change tradition for no reason at all (the “editors” try to give some, but they’re so lame, I won’t even mention them). The Times is trying to change standard American English usage on a whim, as if only they know what’s best, an editorial decision it has absolutely no right to impose on the rest of us. In other words, it’s but another example of thrashing around by a dying and anachronistic print medium.
“Op-ed:” is a shortened form of “editorial opinion”: or “opinions of the editor” that the Times has already morphed into an Irish stew of many ingredients if one considers the writers who post articles on their opinion pages, generally covering a wide, multi-dimensional spectrum of opinion. “Opinion Pages” or simply “Opinion” would be better choices to use, not only as a title for those two pages (in the Times‘s defense, they still use the latter), but “op-eds” is the well-established term employed everywhere, except by the Times.
In that sense, it’s not anyone’s right to change its meaning to “guest essay,” and especially not the Times‘s right to do so. For example, this article is an op-ed because it’s my opinion and I’m editor of this blog, and (most of the time) its only contributor. I might use the term “post” (short for “blog post”) or “article” (they’re journalistic articles—journalism covers the internet as well), but never “essay.” That smacks of eruditeness and elitism. Newspapers feature articles; they don’t publish essays. Not only is the Times‘s decision an incorrect one, it’s inappropriate to use “essay.”
So the use of “guest” and “essay” are both wrong. More than that, the Times‘s decision goes against the traditional purpose of opinion pages: The rest of a newspaper’s articles report facts (or they should!); the opinion pages contain points of view, hopefully opinions supported by a purview of the facts (and not by outrageous conspiracy theories). The articles on opinion pages express the opinions of their writers and aren’t necessarily those of the paper.
The Times has done many stupid things. I’ve written several op-eds about how they’ve turned their “Book Review” Sunday insert into a mouthpiece for the Big Five publishers, for example. (Most of their reviews are just disguised ads designed to promote a Big Five book.) Changing “op-ed: to “guest essay” is yet another stupid decision. Anything but “op-ed” is fickle self-indulgence.
This newspaper is becoming more and more annoying and irrelevant to this author of novels and blog posts aka op-eds. Like most newspapers, I’ll probably not miss the Times if it goes under. Most papers certainly aren’t worth the price to subscribe anymore. But maybe they would be if they’d just stick with what works.
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Comments are always welcome.
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Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
