Thanks for asking!

An opportunity to talk about us

DO EDITORIALS represent the official position of the whole newspaper, the news-side included, or just the “editorial board” that makes the decisions on these columns?

That’s the question-of-the-week that came across one of our email chains with colleagues across the nation. And what a great question it is. Because we get to answer it. We love talking about us!

And our friends in the editorial writing business—the opinion business— want our opinion on our opinions. Could it get any better? Maybe. Ask us about sugar in cornbread. (If you want to start an argument in Arkansas, take a side on whether to add sugar to cornbread.)

To answer the question before us: The editorials in this column represent the view of the publisher and the editorial writers. The first, and maybe only, rule about what’s printed here: Get it by the publisher.

Those who write what you’re reading here are not a part of the news reporting operation, and we aren’t invited to their meetings. We keep an eye on the wires carefully, better than the average bear, but we are sometimes just as surprised as you, Gentle Reader, when we get the paper in the mornings.

And we—all of we—intend to keep it that way. Those who gather, write and edit the news don’t tell us what side to take on the various subjects. See the Statement Of Core Values in today’s paper on page 2A, and every day.

Every newspaper ought to operate with a separation of church and state. We’re the church. We think. They’re the state. We think.

If you’ll remember, The New York Almighty Times got caught up in the tractor’s gears when the newsroom erupted over a guest column written by a noted senator from Arkansas who wrote an opinion they disagreed with. People lost their jobs. Opinion people, not newsroom people. That says a lot about The Times, and nothing good.

But if you keep the news section separate from the opinion section, readers can rely on the news pages to give it to them straight. And clearly marked opinion sections can interpret the news from a certain point of view. If more newspapers were clear in that separation, we have a feeling more newspapers would be trusted by the readers.

Anyway, thanks to our colleagues for the question-of-the-week. We could talk about us all day. (And sometimes do.)