My senior year of college, I was serving as news editor when President Obama ran for re-election. Looking back, I laugh remembering how shocked I was when our general manager asked me to take a stand on the election and endorse a candidate.

This was the same professor who had hammered in my head for three years the importance of reporting nothing but facts, forgetting your own voice and talking about the issues in someone else’s. In my digital-based journalism education, we were trained very minimally in traditional print journalism and focused much more on news reporting in a fast-paced, get-the-news-first digital world of journalism. I quickly learned to forget my own opinion.

So when said professor, equally shocked by my surprise that this was a common practice in newspapers, told me to pick a candidate that reflected the interests of the students at Western Michigan University, I did some research.

It turns out, the endorsement editorial our staff ended up writing was one of the top-clicked stories for the entire academic year.

Of course, this opened my eyes to an entirely new section of the newspaper, and it has since become one of my favorite aspects of my job. How great is it that we are able to provide our readers with not only a place to learn the information necessary to be knowledgeable about the community you live in, but also a place to react to that information and take a stand?

As my professor explained to satisfy my naiveté, while often controversial, editorials are an essential part of the newspaper business. Although objectivity is a crucial part of journalism, equally crucial is our role in holding our elected officials and community leaders accountable for doing the jobs they were chosen by voters to do. This is why journalists have, for centuries, taken stances on key issues and endorsed particular candidates for office. These decisions are not made quickly, and require research and reflection on what our entire editorial staff believes is in the best interest of the constituents.

With that in mind, readers will begin seeing daily editorials on issues ranging from decisions made at school board meetings to thoughts on an upcoming bond issue.

Opinions expressed in editorials will likely never reflect every single reader in our coverage area, but that is OK. We encourage readers to respond to our editorials just as they would any issue reported on in the newspaper. If you disagree, tell us why. If you agree, you can tell us that, too. We encourage your input and are happy to publish it, so long as it abides by our letter to the editor policy, which can be found below:

• Letters must be 300 words or fewer.

• Letters only have one author.

• Letter writers must submit their name, address and phone number for confirmation. Only the city of residence and name will be published.

• Letters may endorse a candidate, issue or person, but letter writers may not make personal attacks on other people, businesses, etc.

• All assertions made in letters built on opinions and any factual statements must be easily verifiable.

• All letters are subject to editing for length or clarity.

• Form letters will not be published.

• No more than two submissions per month by an author

As with the weeks preceding any election, the letter to the editor submissions have picked up tremendously, and I’m so happy to see all of your thoughts and concerns about the May 5 election.

Now, it is time for us here Leader Publications to do our part in return by taking our opinion pages to the next level. It is our responsibility as newspaper professionals to provide you with this platform, and I hope you take advantage of it.

 

Ambrosia Neldon is the managing editor at Leader Publications. She can be reached by phone at (269) 687-7713, or by email at ambrosia.neldon@leaderpub.com.