You’re not alone if you’re unsure about opinion journalism’s definition. It is for many Americans. However, the letters to the editor, opinion pieces, and editorials that occupy the op-ed pages have the potential to heal political rifts in the United States and provide support to struggling local news organizations.
In a Gallup poll conducted in 2017, two-thirds of Americans—up from 42% in 1984 said that the news media does not discern between fact and opinion. According to another poll, only 43% of respondents said they could easily tell the difference between opinion and news on the internet. The term “op-ed,” which is shorthand for an opinion column in opinion journalism, is unfamiliar to half of Americans.
Like almost everything else in American politics, party differences exist in media trust: Democrats place a higher value on the media than Republicans do, and the most ideological members of each party hold the most divergent views.
It could seem improbable that opinion journalism could have a positive impact given this ambiguity and disagreement. But it can, as our research demonstrates.
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