EDITORIAL
Earlier newspapers and journals were mainly consisted of essays, columns, views and poetry, news contents were scare. But with the growth of journalism, basic requirement of newspaper came forth. News style of newspapers changed according to international level. Pages were specified for news and editorial, columns and features.Editorials are considered opinions and soul of the newspaper as represented by the publisher or editor. No newspaper is considered complete without editorial page which should be topical, lively, vigorous and full of thoughts. They appear on the editorial page to differentiate them from news stories. In Urdu newspapers, editorial appears at right side of editorial page, whereas in English newspapers, at left side. Editorial comments on material previously presented fairly or objectively in the news columns, weighing and presenting various arguments. An editorial reaches a conclusion and makes a recommendation regarding an issue.
Editorials are vital for a newspaper and community it serves. Editorials reflect and influence decision making and can direct positively or negatively, actions by readers. It is a fact that editorial pages do not have the proportionality high readership enjoyed by the news, sports or other special pages, but they do command the attention of the population and of those who make decisions.
R.E. Wolsely defines editorial as under :
“Editorial may be defined as a journalistic essay which comments on the news, its purpose being to inform, influence or entertain.”
In simple words, we can say that editorial is a writing printed on a specific place of the paper with daily routine and it carries views, analysis and comments. Editorial is usually a comment on the latest happenings and often used to enlighten the people.
Editorial is the policy of a newspaper. It has no writers name while a feature and a column usually carries the name of a writer.
Importance and Objectives of Editorial
1. Soul of the Newspaper :Editorial is considered to be the soul of the newspaper because it gives life, colour and recognition to the newspaper. As we know our body is nothing without the soul, soul is a symbol of life. Without soul, our body is considered dead. Likewise, without editorial, newspaper is considered dead because editorial represents the newspaper in the specific way by giving argument on any current and domestic issue.
2. Comments on News :
Editorial is the only type of writing in which a newspaper can give its comments. As we have already discussed that editorial is representative of the newspaper’s policy by giving the arguments on any current domestic, national or international issue.
3. Public Opinion :
Editorial is a very powerful writing of newspaper which has a strong ability to mould and form the public opinion by presenting the issue with the solution and sometimes, the editor presents both sides of the picture and then leaves it to the readers to decide themselves. By adopting such, pattern, editorials can easily form the public opinion. That’s why it is said that “Pen is mighter than the sword.”
4. Reflects the Society :
Editorial reflects the society as editorial is always based on the topic concerned with the general people, so the problems of general people are described in the editorial and then the solutions of these problems are presented. Educational policy of government and unawareness of people. In the editorial, the editor explains the educational policy and motivates the people to participate in the new launching project of government. On the other side, through editorial, the government comes to know about the problems of the people. While the editor also promotes the culture of the country through editorials.
Objectives of Editorials
Editorial is a writing of the newspaper which has four basic objectives, first is to inform, second is to influence, third is to entertain and fourth is_ to guide the people. Although it has many other objectives also.1. To Guide the People :
Editorial guides the readers by providing the true picture of the problem and by showing them both sides of the picture, influences them to choose the right path for the solution of their problem. So, editorials try their best to guide the people.
2. To Inform :
The main purpose of the editorial is to inform the people. As we know editorials are based on current issues. Any current national or international issue is discussed in the editorial. By discussing the current national and international issues, the editorial informs the readers about the latest global issues.
3. To Influence :
By giving the arguments on current issues, an editorial influences the people by tentatively defining and explaining a problem or an issue. Then it suggests a solution and put it before'the readers to decide themselves.
4. To Entertain :
Editorial defines the difficult issues in a very light manner but sometimes the editorial presents any issue with a light touch of humour and makes it interesting for the general readers and also fulfils the objective of entertainment.
5. Awareness :
Awareness means to be aware of the facts of life, reality and understanding of current problems and awareness of the solutions of these problems. Editorial performs this role very successfully than any other writing of the newspaper. As it provides the guidance by informing the readers about the current affairs and makes them to be aware with the current situation.
6. Source of Social Welfare :
In editorial, the editor always discusses the problems of general people, including social, political, economical and religious problems. In this way, the editor informs the government about the problems of general people and then the government takes steps to solve the problem of the people. By knowing all this, we can say that editorial is an important source of social welfare by which problems of the people are solved.
7. Accountability :
Editorial performs this role also by taking the notice of government department’s activities, government officials and their way of performing duties. The editor discusses the problems oriented factors which can be proved harmful for the government on one hand and for the people on the other. Accountability of the government and the society is also another important objective of the editorial.
8. Editorial Page :
Editorial is the most important piece of writing. Newspaper shows its opinion through the editorial. Newspaper’s policy is followed by the editorial. Editorial is the only writing, written by the editor or sometimes by the owner of the newspaper. By fulfilling the main objectives, to inform, to influence, to entertain and to guide the people, editorial becomes the most important piece of writing in the newspaper and it is due to the importance of editorial that one page of all the newspapers is known as an “editorial page”. In the present age, no newspaper is considered complete without the editorial page. So this is all due to the importance of editorial for accomplishing its main four objectives.
9. Leadership :
Leadership means to lead the people, to guide the people, to show them the right path. And this all is done by the editorial because it has an ability to form the public opinion according to the will of the newspaper. As editorial is considered the soul and show window of the newspaper’s policy, so whatever a newspaper wants to convey, it conveys through editorial to the people and thus moulds the public opinion a new way.
That’s why editorial is called “The leader” in the newspaper by providing the leadership to the people.
10. Analysis :
Editorial presents the problems, different issues and problems oriented factors after the research work. In this research, editor and the editorial board analyse the problem with facts and figures and then draw the conclusion of the issue which should be based on solution of the problem.
11. Judgment :
Sometimes editorial plays the role of a judge and pass its own personal judgment on any current, national or international issue. In this way, editorial informs the readers about the event, incident or situation and tells them the right way-that what they should do in the present situation and how they should behave otherwise, what will be the drawbacks of the problem. In simple words, role of a judge is successfully played by the
editorial.
12. Tool of Democracy :
“Democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people.“ And people’s opinion rely very much upon the editorial. Editorial makes people to think about the democratic government-that they should have their own government and it is their political right to run the state offices themselves. And this motivation is led by the editorial.
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