How the opinions editor chooses who to publish
From politicians to lawyers, businesspeople to students, people have things to say
This story is part of the Star’s trust initiative, where, every week, we take readers behind the scenes of our journalism. This week, we look at how opinions editor Scott Colby curates a wide range of viewpoints from contributors across political, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Everyone has an opinion. Scott Colby, the Star’s opinions editor, confronts this truism every day.
Colby will receive, on an average day, between10 and15 opinion pieces from members of the public covering a whole host of topics. Those hoping to get published run the gamut of the professional world, from politicians, academics and economists, to lawyers, businesspeople and health-care professionals. He also hears regularly from non-profit groups, agencies and students.
His job is to sort through the submissions, choosing pieces that provide readers with thoughtful commentary on public-interest issues. And that’s in addition to handling opinion pieces from the Star’s regular staff and non-staff columnists that appear on the page opposite the Editorials page.
This week, we sat down with Colby, who’s been the opinions editor since May 2016 and an editor at the Star for 20 years, to find out how he presents a wide range of opinions on issues of the day.
How are the opinion pieces you edit, also known as “op-eds,” different from those written by Star columnists?
An op-ed is an old-fashioned name for an opinion piece, or column. Oped is an abbreviation of the phrase “opposite the editorial page.” Historically, newspapers publish an editorial page that is home to editorials, an editorial cartoon and letters. The opposite page of the same spread contains columns and other opinion pieces. An op-ed is no different from an opinion piece from a Star columnist in the sense that they are both articles of opinion on a timely topic. Columnists have the prestige of being a regular contributor whose writing and arguments are considered to be of a consistently high standard and they’ve earned the right to express their opinions in that paper up to three to four times a week. They also get a logo.
What makes a good op-ed in your opinion?
I tell people I am looking for three things in a good op-ed: the topic must be timely, it must be well-written and it must be well-argued. There is a distinction to be made between wellwritten and well-argued. You can have a nicely written article that essentially doesn’t saying anything or make a point. Where I think many writers miss the mark is they don’t understand that an op-ed needs to have a thesis; it needs to be an argument about an issue. We are not looking for a press release in disguise.
How do you solicit op-eds and what do you look for?
When I solicit op-eds it’s because I’m looking for a commentary piece, or pieces, on a specific topic, such as NAFTA or Indigenous issues. In such cases, I am looking for an excellent writer and a person with expertise, or even a newsmaker directly involved in the issue. Soliciting opeds can take quite a bit of time, which is a rare commodity these days.
When I started this job, for example, I felt we needed to hear directly from Indigenous writers and leaders, as opposed to well-meaning supporters, so I reached out. We’ve published op-eds from Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Grassy Narrows Chief Simon Fobister and Indigenous academics at Trent University. We also want our Opinion page to reflect the changing demographic of the city and country, so having diverse voices is important. Like all mainstream media, we can do a better job, but we believe it is vital to publish diverse voices and we continually aspire to provide them for our readers.
Many of the opinion pieces the Star publishes express views that are counter to the newspaper’s more social-justice leanings. Is this deliberate and if so, why?
We strongly believe the opinion page needs to be an open-minded venue. It is an excellent forum for debating the important issues of the day. To be clear, we will never intentionally publish anything that is hateful, insulting or bigoted. But I frequently select commentary that I don’t necessarily agree with, or that puts forward an opinion that contradicts our own editorials. If the author makes a compelling case on a timely issue, it benefits everyone when we publish those views to contribute to the debate. It’s important to listen to arguments from both sides of an issue to understand where each side is coming from. When we can really listen and understand, hopefully we’ll learn something about their motivations, for instance, that might make us more sympathetic, or it might expose something less innocent that deserves scrutiny.
We are not interested in being an echo chamber where readers only listen to the people they agree with. I love it when we can publish a page that contains opposing views on the same topic, as long as both pieces are well written and well argued. For example, earlier this month, we published two op-eds taking different stands on the minimum wage increase, one by Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, and the other by Premier Kathleen Wynne.
“When it comes to op-eds, we hold politicians to a higher standard than the public.” SCOTT COLBY OPINIONS EDITOR
What message do you have for those readers who may view the op-ed pages as a pulpit for politicians to spread positive PR messages about themselves?
We receive a lot of op-eds from politicians and we reject most of them on the basis that they are essentially glorified press releases. When it comes to op-eds, we hold politicians to a higher standard than the public. Their op-eds must be saying something new and adding to the understanding of an important issue. We are vigilant in preventing the Star’s opinion pages from becoming an extension of a politician’s PR department. The Star’s Trust Initiative is eager to hear from readers. Do you have any questions about how we do our journalism? What are some topics you’d like to see us write about? Send us a note with your thoughts to trust@thestar.ca.