News and opinions
don’t mix

In a discussion -- nay, argument -- the other evening, a reader insisted that the news and editorial departments of the Star-Bulletin colluded so that the news columns would reflect the editorial position of the paper rather than a judgment based on the intrinsic value of the news.

Not so. There is an intellectual and operational wall that separates the news and editorial staffs so that news judgments and editorial positions are determined independently. Decisions by the news staff on playing the news are made without regard to whatever editorial position might be taken by the staff on the other side of the wall.

Conversely, the editorial staff does not discuss with the news editors and reporters what is to be advocated on the editorial page. Editorial writers lag a day behind the news, picking subjects about which to write after they have been covered in the news columns. What an editorial writer will argue is decided without input from the news staff.

This division is intended to keep fact and opinion separate for the benefit of the reader. In stark terms, the managing editor responsible for news coverage does not tell the editorial director what positions to take and the editorial director does not tell the managing editor what news to print.

--Richard Halloran

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