The difference between analysis and opinion is the difference between informing readers and changing their hearts and minds. Every section in The Daily Cougar – and every other publication, for that matter – serves a purpose. This is the intention of the Opinion section.
This section is not a place for students, faculty and staff to go on tirades about their favorite ice cream flavors and push their agendas.
So wherein lies the argument? Nowhere. Blather with no substance does not belong in any publication. We shouldn’t be doing this, and if we are, we need to be put in check. For this reason, the Opinion section requests more feedback from students. Newspapers rely on their readers’ responses to gauge how good of a job they are doing, and the Daily Cougar is no different.
‘The key (to good opinion writing) for me is good reporting in both analysis and opinion writing. The difference is one of intention: opinion should be about changing hearts and minds with knowledge and wisdom; analysis should be about knowledge and wisdom (i.e. organized information embedded in a context and the capacity to know what body of knowledge is relevant to the solution of significant problems). Analysis, therefore, should not promote specific agendas; it should examine agendas,’ assistant professor of journalism at Missouri State University Andrew Cline said on his Web site Rhetorica.net.
Disagree with an opinion article? Disagree with an event being covered in the News section? Think the Sports section is giving UH sports programs an unwarranted amount of respect (or contempt)? Is the Life & Arts section talking too much about one thing and never addressing a topic you’re interested in? Leave a comment at TheDailyCougar.com or write the editor a letter.
And, of course, if you’re pleased with the quality of the paper or simply liked a specific article, feel free to leave comments or write a letter too.
