Editorial Journalism and Newspapers' Editorial Opinions

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Editorial journalism and newspapers’ editorial opinions
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Editorial Journalism and Newspapers’ Editorial Opinions
Editorial Journalism and Newspapers’ Editorial Opin

ions
Julie Firmstone
Subject: Communication Theory, Journalism Studies, Mass Communication, Political Communi
cation
Online Publication Date: Mar 2019 DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.803
Summary and Keywords
Editorial journalism and newspapers’ editorial opinions represent an area of research

that can make an important contribution to our understanding of the relationship be
tween the press and politics. Editorials are a distinctive format and are the only place in a
newspaper where the opinions of a paper as an organization are explicitly represented.
Newspapers and the journalists who write editorials play a powerful role in constructing
political debate in the public sphere. They use their editorial voice to attempt to influence
politics either indirectly, through reaching public opinion, or directly, by targeting politi
cians. Editorial journalism is at its most persuasive during elections, when newspapers
traditionally declare support for candidates and political parties. Despite the potential of
editorial opinions to influence democratic debate, and controversy over the way newspa
pers and their proprietors use editorials to intervene in politics, editorial journalism is un
der-researched. Our understanding of the significance of this distinctive form of journal
ism can be better understood by exploring four key themes.
First, asking “What is editorial journalism?” establishes the context of editorial journal
ism as a unique practice with opinion-leading intentions. Several characteristics of editor
ial journalism distinguish it from other formats and genres. Editorials (also known as
leading articles) require a distinctive style and form of expression, occupy a special place
in the physical geography of a newspaper, represent the collective institutional voice of a
newspaper rather than that of an individual, have no bylines in the majority of countries,
and are written with differing aims and motivations to news reports. The historical devel
opment of journalism explains the status of editorials as a distinctive form of journalism.
Professional ideals and practices evolved to demand objectivity in news reporting and the
separation of fact from opinion. Historically, editorial and advocacy journalism share an
ethos for journalism that endeavors to effect social or political change, yet editorial jour
nalism is distinctive from other advocacy journalism practices in significant ways. Editori
als are also an integral part of the campaign journalism practiced by some newspapers.
Second, research and approaches in the field of political communication have attributed a
particularly powerful role to editorial journalism. Rooted in the effects tradition, re
searchers have attributed an important role to editorials in informing and shaping debate
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in the public sphere in four ways: (1) as an influence on readers, voters, and/or public
opinion; (2) as an influence on the internal news agendas and coverage of newspapers;
(3) as an influence on the agendas and coverage in other news media; and (4) as an influ
ence on political or policy agendas. Theorizing newspapers as active and independent po
litical actors in the political process further underpins the need to research editorial jour
nalism. Third, editorial journalism has been overlooked by sociological studies of journal
ism practices. Research provides a limited understanding of the routines and practices of
editorial journalists and the organization of editorial opinion at newspapers. Although
rare, studies focusing on editorial journalism show that editorial opinion does not simply
reflect the influence of proprietors, as has often been assumed. Rather, editorial opinions
are shaped by a complex range of factors. Finally, existing research trajectories and cur
rent developments point to new challenges and opportunities for editorial journalism.
These challenges relate to how professional norms respond to age-old questions about ob
jectivity, bias, and partisanship in the digital age.
Keywords: editorials, editorial journalism, leader writing, opinion, advocacy journalism, campaign journalism,
newspapers as political actors, press partisanship, media effects, opinion leading, journalism studies
Introducing Editorial Journalism

The potential for newspapers’ editorial opinions to influence voters and politicians has
driven debate and scholarship to coalesce around editorial opinion as the most tangible
manifestation of the power of the press. Elections are very often followed by public de
bate about the power of newspapers to shape the outcome. Indeed, newspapers are not
averse to claiming responsibility for influencing voters, as evidenced by the notorious
British tabloid headline “It’s the Sun wot won it” the day after the unexpected election of
a Conservative government in 1992. Whether editorials have the power to change voters’
behavior is contested, yet much scholarship is based on the premise that newspapers’
opinions at least exert some influence in the construction of public knowledge: “How edi
torial writers interpret and use facts and opinions to persuade, to set an agenda, or to
scold can bring about an important different meaning for the reading public” (Hallock,
2007, p. 11).
The distinctive role of editorials as the collective identity of a newspaper and their overt
and deliberate persuasive intentions distinguish editorial journalism from other journal
ism. Our understanding of the significance of this distinctive form can be better under
stood by structuring an analysis of research and theoretical approaches to editorial jour
nalism into four key themes. The first draws on research to define editorial journalism as
a distinctive practice. The second theme considers the significance attributed to editorial
journalism by theoretical approaches that conceptualize the opinion-leading role of the
press and provide evidence of the persuasive power of editorials in the public sphere. In
the third theme, findings from sociological studies of the practice of editorial journalism
are reviewed to consider influences on newspapers’ editorial opinions. Finally, existing re
search trajectories and current developments point to new challenges and opportunities
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for editorial journalism. These challenges relate to how professional norms respond to
age-old questions about objectivity, bias, and partisanship in the digital age.
Editorial Journalism as a Distinct Genre and

Practice
The genre of editorial journalism is exclusive to newspapers and refers to the practice of
writing editorial articles (editorials), sometimes known as leaders or leading articles.
These articles make up the editorial column, an historical feature of the printed newspa
per format worldwide although there are some places where editorials are not common
place including Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Bulgaria.1 Editorials are published in the name of
the newspaper rather than attributed to individual journalists (see below for exceptions),
and are intended to represent the collective opinion or the public voice of a newspaper.
Editorials allow newspapers to make allegiances known; support and oppose individuals;
speak on behalf of their readers; speak to readers; and speak to politicians, parties, and
other organizations. Editorial journalism is not be confused with the use of the term “edi
torial” to refer to content in a news product that has been produced as journalism rather
than other non-journalistic content such as advertising. The concept as explored here also
differs from “editorializing,” which can occur in all types of journalism. Editorializing
refers to instances when a personal opinion is expressed, usually when a journalist should
only be giving a report of the facts.
Editorials differ from other opinion formats such as columns, commentary pages, letters
to the editor, op-ed pages, or guest contributions. Formats vary but it is most common for
editorials to be physically located toward the front or midway through the newspaper,
and they are usually adjacent to the op-ed pages, cartoons, and letters to the editor. In
some places editorials appear on the back page (Greece), on the front page (Saudi Ara
bia), or either on the front page or the first four to six pages (China). In some countries,
there are variations among newspapers, for example, with some publishing editorials
with bylines on page 2 and others giving comment in the name of the paper on page 22
(France). In Australia, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Kenya, and the United Kingdom,
papers tend to publish editorials in roughly the same place (the middle) each day as a
matter of tradition. With the exception of Greece, Sweden, some French papers (and no
doubt some other countries), editorials are not attributed to individual journalists be
cause they represent the collective voice of the newspaper.
The separation and clear identification of editorial articles as opinion has been carried
over to online versions of newspapers. Editorials are written by specialist journalists
known as leader writers (in the United Kingdom) who occupy senior positions within
newspapers and/or by members of the editorial board (in the United States), and by high
profile named journalists (Greece). In the most common format in the United Kingdom, a
daily leader column consists of three editorial articles, usually of diminishing length and
with the first article indicating prominence. Editorials vary in length according to the tra
ditional newspapers formats (broadsheet/quality/tabloid) and are rarely over five hundred
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words. The editorial (or leader) column is most often visually framed as the institutional
view of the paper, with headers that often include newspaper mastheads, value state
ments, crests, or logos. In exceptional cases such as election time or as part of a
newspaper’s campaign, editorial opinion is published in a different format to give it
greater prominence. Publishing editorials in unusual places such as on the front page
(rare in the United Kingdom), or devoting an entire page or a double-page spread to an
editorial pushes a newspaper’s opinion further up the agenda (Firmstone, 2016, 2017).
The visual and physical demarcation of editorials from other content evolved as a crucial
practice by which to observe the professional journalistic norm of separating fact from
opinion. The ethical motivation to ensure that fact-based content is not tainted is further
assured by the common practice of enforcing an unmovable boundary between the roles
of news and opinion production.
The History of Editorial Journalism
Editorials and their status as a distinct genre stem from the historical development of
journalism as a profession with ideals and practices that demand news reporting to be ob
jective, to separate fact from opinion and, in the United States, to maintain a commitment
to neutrality (a non-partisan press). The editorial emerged as a distinct format in re
sponse to the norms and values associated with the establishment of journalism as a pro
fession in the early 20th century. Comprehensive historical accounts of the development
of newspaper journalism (predominantly only available for the United States) describe
how the separation of fact and opinion became a central organizing principle of journalis
tic practice (Jacobs & Townsley, 2011; Schudson, 1978). In tracing the origins of the lead
ing article back to Victorian times, Liddle describes editorial journalism in the 1800s as
“the most important, authoritative, and characteristic mode of British journalism” (Liddle,
1999, p. 5).
From a point in the 1860s when the U.S. press was at its most political and expressed al
legiances to political parties explicitly, newspapers moved to cut their official ties with po
litical parties over the course of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Great value was
placed on demonstrating independence from parties and government through objective,
fair, balanced reporting. At the same time, newspapers and their owners wanted to assert
their voice as an independent and powerful force in public deliberation.
The creation of the editorial column in the United States in the 1920s enabled a strict
separation of fact-based “objective” journalism from opinion (Schudson, 1978). Editorials
were introduced as a vehicle to illustrate to readers a newspaper’s independence from
government on a daily basis (Conboy, 2005). The segregation of news reporting from edi
torial opinion also served to allow journalists to defend their reporting as independent
from the capitalist interests of newspaper owners. In the early 21st century, journalistic
norms in the United States dictate that news pages report objectively and autonomously
from the political views and opinions of the editorial board and proprietors. This require
ment features in the American Society of News Editors “Statement of Principles”: “To be
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impartial does not require the press to be unquestioning or to refrain from editorial ex
pression. Sound practice, however, demands a clear distinction for the reader between
news reports and opinion. Articles that contain opinion or personal interpretation should
be clearly identified” (ASNE, 2018).
The corresponding regulatory guidelines in the United Kingdom highlight a key differ
ence in the way that the objectivity norm developed on each side of the Atlantic. Although
objectivity in the United States was bound up with the development of an impartial press,
the values British newspaper journalists associated with objectivity did not evolve to pro
hibit partisanship (Hampton, 2008). Instead, objectivity was more about independence
and truth, and developed in institutionally specific contexts. The Independent Press Stan
dards Organization (IPSO) guidelines state that newspapers are “free to editorialise and
campaign but are obliged to make a clear distinction between comment, conjecture and
fact” (IPSO, 2018). In spite of these voluntary regulations, the line between opinion and
fact-based news reporting in the United Kingdom is blurred. Although no longer officially
aligned with political parties, the U.K. press is famously partisan. Although news report
ing purports to operate separately from opinion, it is generally agreed that editorial opin
ions shape the selection and framing of news reports.
Unfortunately, less is known about the historical development of editorial journalism in

other cultural contexts. As the field of journalism studies expands, cross-national studies
reveal that objectivity varies in importance in different journalistic cultures (Hallin &
Mancini, 2004). For example, in Germany a clear distinction is not made between subjec
tive commentary and news reporting (Esser, 1998; Hallin & Mancini, 2004). Despite such
country-based differences, the editorial column represents a common format worldwide,
where such deliberations are not required.
Newspapers’ Editorial Opinions and Partisanship
Newspapers use the distinctive format of an editorial to intervene into politics and to in
fluence public opinion. During elections, newspapers traditionally use their editorial voice
to endorse a candidate or party. The endorsement of political candidates is an “integral
part of the electoral machinery” (Meltzer, 2007, p. 99) and the bellwether of a
newspaper’s partisanship. Endorsements and support for parties are often the culmina
tion of editorial opinions that have been voiced over a prolonged period prior to election
periods. Explicit declarations of partisanship are typically made on or around polling day
and continue to shape editorial coverage until and unless an organizational decision is
made to switch allegiances. It is possible to make observations about the overall political
leaning of the national press by combining measurements of partisanship with a
newspaper’s share of circulation (Seymour Ure, 1997, 2002; Wring & Deacon, 2010). The
strong connection between ownership and partisanship has led to concerns about plurali
ty because of the gradual shift toward a concentration of ownership within many national
newspaper systems (Hallock, 2007).
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Although editorials routinely engage in debates that encompass a far wider range of polit
ical opinions than the formal support of political parties, most studies only use editorials
as simple measures of partisanship during election time. Even though newspapers use
their editorial voice to opine on a wide range of issues, far fewer studies have measured
editorial opinion outside of elections and on topics other than politics. Hallock’s historical
analysis of U.S. editorials from the late 1700s to mid-1900s found that editorials were
published on a vast range of topics “all in the higher cause of American nationalism and
culture” (Hallock, 2007, p. 33). The following selection of studies is referenced to indicate
the range of topics newspapers have chosen to take stances on. Content analyses of edito
rials that go beyond simple measurements of partisanship include one of the first articles
to systematically analyze editorial content that looked at the elite orientations of U.K.
newspapers (Namenwirth, 1969), specific issues such as vice presidential and presiden
tial campaigns, (Blankenship, Mendez-Mendez, Guen Kang, & Giodano, 1986; Myers,
1982), the deregulation of broadcasting (Pratte & Whiting, 1986), and the Japanese-Amer
ican relocation during the Second World War in 1942 (Chiasson, 1991). Studies have been
made of editorial framing of issues in the U.S. press relating to race (Hannah & Gandy,
2000; Richardson & Lancendorfer, 2004), the war in Afghanistan (Ryan, 2004), and the
medical marijuana debate (Golan, 2010). Analyses of the editorial framing of issues in Eu
rope include a seven-country comparison of the communication of the European Union
(EU) (Pfetsch, Adam, & Eschner, 2010) and analyses of opinions of the U.K. press toward
the EU (Firmstone, 2009, 2016).
Editorials as Texts—Persuasive Style and Content
The persuasive style and content of editorials has been evaluated by scholars to varying
degrees of sophistication using a range of analytical approaches including historical, con
tent, framing and discourse analysis. Historical analyses show that the agenda and style
of U.S. editorial journalism is “heavy on politics, frequently strong in emotion and
language” (Hallock, 2007, p. 41). A U.K. journalist is quoted in Liddle’s historical account
as saying “I may now have it now in my power to instil the most pernicious opinions on al
most any subject, into the minds of three millions of human beings” (Liddle, 1999, p. 2).
Editorial styles in the U.S. press from 1965–1985 showed a trend toward more forceful
editorials which “were taking stands, employing opinion or opinion in conjunction with in
formation in their leads and expressing reactions or calls for action in their
endings” (Hynds, 1990, p. 311). Editorial journalism demands a distinctive writing style
that differs greatly from news reporting. A Pulitzer Prize–winning editorial writer advo
cated a successful formula to attract readers to editorials: “Report thoroughly, think
clearly, write gracefully. Be passionate in your beliefs. Be persuasive in your
writing” (Gartner, 2005). In direct contrast to most other forms of journalism, subjectivity
and opinion is not only permitted in editorials—it is expected.
Editorials are discursively structured in such a way that makes it possible to identify four
key elements of framing, defined by Entman (1993) and Nelson, Clawson, and Oxley
(1997): the positions or judgments that newspapers take on issues (position); the way the
issue is defined as a problem and the consequences of the problem (problem definition);
Page 6 of 24

the agents that are identified as being responsible for or causing the problem (cause); the
evaluations that are given for how the problem should be treated or remedied (treatment
recommendation). Evaluating editorials in the British press using this method provided
evidence that editorials are written to attempt to influence politics either indirectly,
through reaching public opinion, or directly, by targeting opinions directly at politicians
(Firmstone, 2009, 2007). Another approach based on “political claims-
making” (Koopmans & Statham, 1999) treats an editorial as a claim or “an instance of
strategic action in the public sphere” and sees editorials as structured around demands
addressed to actors or institutions, who are criticized or supported in the interests of an
actor in an argumentative framing (Pfetsch, Adam, & Berkel, 2008; Pfetsch et al., 2010).
Editorial pages have also been the subject of a number of discourse analyses grounded in
the study of linguistics. However, with the exception of Van Dijk, few discourse studies
are concerned with the dynamics of editorials as journalism or as indicators of the rela
tionship between the press and politics. Van Dijk established a model of the argumenta
tion style of editorials, showing they are discursively constructed to intervene in public
deliberation. Editorials feature three categories: (1) defining and subjectively summariz
ing the situation, (2) providing an evaluation of the event or issue, (3) concluding with
recommendations and expectations for solutions directed at news actors (Van Dijk, 1992,
p. 244). Most recently, a “tenacity” scoring system has been developed to measure the at
tention-seeking features of editorial techniques that are employed to promote editorial
opinions beyond the usual text-based editorial columns (Firmstone, 2016, 2017).
What Makes Editorial Journalism Unique?
The norms of professional journalism limit the intentional expression of opinions to a

handful of formats published separately from news. These include comment and analysis
articles (known as op-eds in the United States), letters to the editor, columns, and editori
al articles. Here it is important to make a further distinction beyond the dichotomy of
fact-based reporting versus opinion pieces, to explain what makes editorial journalism
unique. Editorials are a distinctive format because they are the only place in a newspaper
where the views of the newspaper as an organization are represented. In practice, edito
rials reflect the views of a small and specialist group of journalists who are included in
discussions about the newspaper’s editorial line, rather than any kind of consultative
process with the whole staff (see “ROUTINES FOR ISSUE SELECTION, DECIDING THE
AGENDA, AND THE LINE AND TONE OF EDITORIAL OPINION”). In addition, editorials
are the principal format for the expression of a newspaper’s partisan views. In contrast,
opinions in comment and analysis pieces represent the views of individual journalists or
guest commentators and fulfill different objectives. Editorials are therefore the most reli
able way of measuring the collective opinion of a newspaper as an entity. Understanding
the opinions of newspapers as institutions or organizations as distinct from the opinions
of individual journalists is considered important by scholars who are interested in the re
lationship between the press and politics.
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Editorials and Other Forms of Opinion Journalism
Editorial journalism can be located as a specific form of journalistic practice by consider

ing its relationship with two other types of opinion journalism: advocacy and campaign
journalism. Advocacy journalism encompasses “a broad church of subjective forms of re
porting that promote social issues and causes, such as ‘muckraking’, ‘crusading’, ‘alterna
tive’, ‘activist’, ‘peace journalism’, ‘civic’ advocacy journalism and ‘interpretive’
journalism” (Fisher, 2016, p. 714). Some definitions of advocacy journalism also include
editorial comment (Anderson, Downie, Jr., & Schudson, 2016). Historical accounts of the
development of advocacy journalism describe the introduction of editorials as a distinct
format as a response to the need to keep advocacy journalism away from objectivity-dri
ven journalism (Waisbord, 2009). Although editorial journalism can be considered as a
specific form of advocacy journalism, it is rarely theorized or empirically researched as
such. Historically, editorial and advocacy journalism share an ethos for journalism that
endeavors to effect social or political change, yet editorial journalism is distinctive from
other advocacy journalism practices in significant ways. Advocacy journalists make choic
es as individuals to attempt to effect social change on behalf of the causes they support,
in contrast to the broader, collective aims of editorial writing. Editorial journalism is the
result of a shared decision-making process and reflects the partisanship and position of a
newspaper, not those of an individual. Advocacy journalism is adopted by journalists who
reject the pursuit of objectivity in news reporting as unrealistic. In the specific role of edi
torial writing, journalists do not struggle to reconcile the two opposing professional val
ues of gatekeeper and advocate identified by Janowitz in his seminal discussion of advoca
cy journalism (Janowitz, 1975). The explicit purpose and unique identity of editorial jour
nalism distances it from common critiques of individuals who practice advocacy journal
ism. In contrast, critiques of editorials focus more on how proprietors and newspapers
use editorials to influence public opinion and the political process.
Editorials are an integral part of the campaign journalism practiced by some newspapers.
Campaign journalism is distinct from other forms of journalism, including advocacy jour
nalism, because it aims to influence politicians rather than inform voters, and claims to
advocate in the interest of the public and/or to represent public opinion (Birks, 2010).
Other definitions highlight the close connection between editorial journalism and cam
paigns in stating that campaigns are a result of a conscious editorial decision on behalf of
a newspaper to intervene in policy debates, with the express intention of effecting change
(Firmstone, 2008; Howarth, 2012). Campaign journalism typically involves newspapers
publishing a series of campaign-branded news articles and editorials over a sustained pe
riod of time. As with editorials, the partisan nature of campaign journalism is defended
against accusations of bias because it is explicitly labeled as such. It is distinguishable
from “straight” news. Editorial journalism can therefore be defined as the practice of
journalists who produce editorial articles that represent the collective opinion of a news
paper. This entry focuses narrowly on editorial journalism as distinct from other forms of
opinion journalism.
Page 8 of 24

The Significance of Editorial Journalism: Per

suasive Power
The significance of editorial journalism is rooted in theories about the democratic role of
newspapers and the persuasive power of the news media. Concerns about concentration
of ownership, close relationships between proprietors and political elites, and the degree
of political parallelism between newspapers and political parties makes newspapers an
important focus for anyone interested in the role of the media in democracy. In the con
text of this potential persuasive power, the content produced by editorial journalists has
featured most commonly in political communications research. Rooted in the effects tra
dition, researchers have attributed an important role to editorials in informing and shap
ing debate in the public sphere in four ways: (1) as an influence on readers, voters, and/or
public opinion; (2) as an influence on the internal news agendas and coverage of newspa
pers; (3) as an influence on the agendas and coverage in other news media; (4) as an in
fluence on political or policy agendas. Aside from these roles, the field of discourse analy
sis considers that editorials should be read for signs of their broader political and socio
cultural function. Van Dijk argues that analyses of the argumentative structure and
strategies in editorials can reveal the underlying ideologies of newspapers and the jour
nalists who write them (Van Dijk, 1992). He sees editorials as “the manifestation of evalu
ative beliefs of newspaper editors” (Van Dijk, 1995, p. 1).
Despite the heterogeneous nature of journalism, studies of its consequences for the con
struction of public knowledge and its impact on the political process rarely distinguish be
tween different journalistic roles and news formats. What follows therefore focuses as
much as is possible on evidence relating specifically to editorial journalism, but necessari
ly refers to political journalism more broadly at times.
Influence on Readers, Voters, and Public Opinion
Newspapers make their own decisions on what issues should be selected for debate and
provide their own opinion in editorials. They are not required to report on the agendas
and opinions of other actors, as in news reports. By selecting and presenting issues ac
cording to their own agenda, newspapers are able to take on an active role in public de
liberations of political issues. McCombs states, “Resting on the assumption that the news
media are a special kind of public institution – an institution that represents the public in
terest vis-à-vis the government – investigative reporting and editorial campaigns actively
seek to move issues onto the public agenda” (McCombs, 1997, p. 438).
The question of whether and how newspapers’ editorial opinions influence public opinion
is complex and contentious. As with the broader question of media influence and the ef
fects tradition, researchers have struggled to find methods and contexts that can conclu
sively prove a causal relationship (McDonald Ladd & Lenz, 2009). Research design and
methodological limitations mean that interpreting the relationship between newspapers’
political opinions and those of its readers is problematic. Only a small body of research
Page 9 of 24

has narrowed the search for media effects to exploring the relationship between editori
als and public opinion. This research concentrates on editorial coverage during elections
and more specifically on the relationship between editorial endorsements of parties or
candidates and voting behavior. It is also highly concentrated on the U.S. media and on
“quality” papers. The evidence is mixed (McDonald Ladd & Lenz, 2009). Some have found
that endorsements have little or no effect (Norris, 1999), and others suggest they only af
fect readers who are less engaged in politics (Hagen & Jamieson, 2000). Such findings
are in line with overall thinking, which attributes a greater influence to the media when
readers are not well informed about an issue (see Iyengar, 1991; Kahneman & Tversky,
1984; Zaller, 1992; Zucker, 1978).
In a study that claimed to overcome the multiple methodological problems that limit the
strength of previous findings, McDonald Ladd and Lenz (2009) profess to provide “rare
evidence that the news media exert a strong influence on mass political
behavior” (McDonald Ladd & Lenz, 2009, p. 405). Examining U.K. newspaper coverage at
a time when several newspapers uncharacteristically switched their partisanship (1997),
they found a persuasive effect of endorsements and slant on between 10% and 25% of
readers. Two studies of senatorial campaigns in the United States claim similarly strong
evidence of the effects of editorial endorsements on readers (Druckman & Parkin, 2005;
Kahn & Kenney, 2002). Endorsements affect citizens’ preferences, particularly those who
read daily, and incumbent candidates supported by editorial coverage were more success
ful than non-endorsed candidates with readers (Kahn & Kenney, 2002). Although they
caution that their findings may not be generalizable, Druckman and Parkin (2005) found
“concrete evidence that relative editorial slant can influence voters” (Druckman & Parkin,
2005, p. 1047).
Outside the effects tradition, very little is known about the readership of editorials. Prior
to the ability to measure audience metrics digitally, the industry relied on surveys to mea
sure the popularity of editorials and the demographics of their readership. In the 1990s,
these indicated that editorial pages were popular and read by over 60% of newspaper
readers (Hallock, 2007). It is claimed that editorials are most popular with older readers
and elites (Hallock, 2007), which confirms their potential to influence policymakers and
elites. Others admit that editorial “influence is difficult to document” (Hynds, 1990, p.
441). Having outlined how editorials influence readers, we now consider two main ways
that editorial opinion can exert an influence beyond its readers: intra-media and inter-me
dia agenda setting.
Influence on Newspapers’ Internal News Agendas and Other Cover

age
It has long been argued that, regardless of whether or not the relationship is intentional,
the editorial column sets the tone for the rest of the newspaper (Page, 1996B; Rowse,
1957). Interviews with journalists indicate that journalists’ production of news is shaped
by positions and opinions given in their newspaper’s editorials (Baisnée, 2002; Firmstone,
2009; Morgan, 1995). Only a handful of scholars have analyzed content to explore the re
Page 10 of 24

lationship, known as intra-media agenda setting, between editorial views and news cover
age within the same newspaper (Kahn & Kenney, 2002).
The search for similarities in agendas and tone or slant relates to two concerns. The first
of these is that opinion and/or bias seeps into other areas of newspaper coverage that, de
pending on journalistic norms, are expected to be objective and impartial. If the press
claims to be an objective source of straight information, then any straying into bias is
seen as problematic (Druckman & Parkin, 2005). Several studies in the United States pro
vide strong evidence that coverage of electoral campaigns, including the tone, the level of
criticism, and support for candidates, is affected by editorial positions (Druckman &
Parkin, 2005; Kahn & Kenney, 2002). In contrast to the overt bias associated with Euro
pean press journalism, readers of the U.S. press expect news coverage to be impartial
and free from opinion. Based on claims that voters are influenced by coverage about elec
toral candidates, concerns have been raised about the potential effect of “hidden bias” in
coverage that reflects the editorial positions of newspapers (Kahn & Kenney, 2002).
The second area of research critiquing the influence of editorial opinion on news cover
age extends these concerns to the principle of internal plurality. Although newspapers in
the United States are permitted to provide an opinion in editorials, professional norms ex
pect the rest of the newspaper to display a plurality of voices and views. Several studies
demonstrate that op-eds replicate the opinions offered in editorials (Golan & Lukito,
2015). The concern is that such mimicry reinforces the editorial views of the newspaper
rather than providing readers with a diversity of opinions. Homogeneity in the views and
opinions offered within a newspaper prevents readers accessing the information neces
sary for them to consider an issue from a variety of perspectives. This limits the potential
for op-eds to perform a democratic role. The separation of fact from opinion is less for
malized in the European press, with a “blurry” line between editorials and news during
elections (McDonald Ladd & Lenz, 2009). Such blurring of boundaries is, however, con
tentious. For example, a recent analysis showed a strong relationship between newspa
pers’ opinions and critical news reports about the opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn dur
ing the 2017 U.K. election. Claiming that the “clear distinction between comment, conjec
ture and fact” required by the IPSO editorial guidelines had been ignored, the study con
cluded that the British press acted in “radical insularity . . . for the ethical, political and
social responsibilities of journalists in a democracy” (Cammaerts, Decillia, & Magalhães,
2018).
The Influence of Editorials on Other News Media, Political Elites, and

Policymakers
A less direct yet important way that editorial opinions influence debate in the public
sphere is when issues or opinions from editorials feature in the coverage of other news
media. Advancing the original theory of agenda setting, inter-media agenda setting refers
to the influence that newspapers can have beyond their own readers by shaping the agen
da of other media outlets (McCombs, 2005). Although they rarely distinguish between edi
Page 11 of 24

torial and news content, studies of press agendas describe inter-media agenda setting op
erating in two ways that are applicable to editorials.
First, journalists at rival news organizations take newspapers’ agendas as cues for story
selection. Using one another as sources, the news media literally “look over their shoul
ders” at one another (McCombs, 2004). Studies grounded in this comparatively under-re
searched branch of agenda setting have consistently identified a strong relationship be
tween issues covered by newspapers and the news agendas of television and radio news
(Golan, 2006). The influence of newspapers on television news agendas is stronger than
the other way around (Golan, 2006; Vliegenthart & Walgrave, 2008). In specific relation
to opinion, given the open partisanship of the U.K. press, the inter-media agenda-setting
power of newspapers, particularly broadsheets, amplifies their opinion-leading role
(Cushion, Kilby, Thomas, Morani, & Sambrook, 2018). Interviews with journalists confirm
that they are motivated to write editorials in response to editorials published by other
newspapers (Firmstone, 2008).
Second, the reach of editorial opinions is expanded when other news outlets, particularly
radio and TV news, repeat newspaper coverage in special features where broadcast jour
nalists review the day’s newspapers. An overarching reason to be concerned about the re
lationship between editorials and other news is that it might allow partisanship to seep
into coverage that would otherwise be impartial. This is particularly the case in the Unit
ed Kingdom, where a reliance on, or repetition of, coverage from the disproportionately
right-wing U.K. press is thought to threaten the impartiality of broadcast news, with clear
“ideological implications” (Cushion et al., 2018; Renton & Scholsberg, 2017).
The fourth and final influence ascribed to editorials relates to elite opinion. According to
British journalists, politicians monitor editorials and sometimes contact journalists about
the opinions voiced in them (Firmstone, 2008). Although the fact that newspapers’ com
ments are “received” by political actors does not establish that newspapers influence the
actions of policymakers, it suggests that newspapers’ editorial agendas are “heard” by
key influencers. Writing about news in general, scholars have long claimed that newspa
pers play a role as opinion leaders for politicians and political elites, and are influential
because they are used by politicians as an indicator of public opinion (Cohen, 1983; Lin
sky, 1986).
Newspapers as Independent Political Actors
Although theories of the power of the press have paid limited attention to the specific
function of editorial opinion, a relatively new strand of research in political communica
tion illustrates the significance of newspapers’ editorial opinions. Highlighting the per
suasive and evaluative functions of the media, scholars have recently drawn attention to
the independent role of newspapers in providing opinion and pushing issues onto the
agenda (Gurevitch & Blumler, 1990; Eilders, 1997, 2000, 2002; Firmstone, 2008, 2016;
McCombs, 1997, Page, 1996A; Pfetsch et al., 2010; Price, 1992; Statham, 2007). Eilders
argues that through interpretative, evaluative, and potentially persuasive content, the
Page 12 of 24

media provide orientation to the process of opinion formation by making judgments re
garding policy, political actors, and political decisions (Eilders, 2000). Scholars suggest
that newspapers should be considered as independent political actors who can legitimate
ly use their right to express their view in the public sphere to pursue their own political
interests and goals.
In a seminal article, Page suggests that questions regarding “what kinds of media act in
this way, under what circumstances, and concerning what issues” remain unanswered
(Page, 1996A, p. 23). Theorizing newspapers as active and independent political actors in
the political process through their editorial role underpins the need to further research
editorial journalism to address questions about the issues newspapers choose to present
as important, how newspapers present their evaluation of issues, and what influences
newspapers’ opinions.
What Shapes Newspapers’ Editorial Positions?

Despite the potentially powerful influence of editorial journalism on public opinion and
the democratic process, sociological research into the factors that influence newspapers’
editorial opinions remains scarce (Firmstone, 2008). For example, much critique of the
opinion-leading role of the British Eurosceptic press is based on suppositions deduced
from the content of news coverage and tends to point to the fairly obvious input of propri
etors as the most significant determinants of such coverage (Firmstone, 2008). Studies of
journalism to date provide little empirical evidence relating to the specialist journalistic
activity of producing editorial opinion. Organizational studies of journalism have concen
trated on front-line reporters, with the result that little is known about the interactions
between editorial and higher level journalists (Firmstone, 2009; Reese, 1991; Schudson,
2000). Although scholars have established that news values are a central organizing con
cept of news production routines (Galtung & Ruge, 1965; Harcup & O’Neill, 2017) and
professional journalistic roles (Hallin & Mancini, 2004; Tumber & Prentoulis, 2005), they
have not yet investigated the concepts that shape the routine production of editorial con
tent. Similarly, organizational policies are known to play an important role in shaping
news reporting (Gans, 1979; Soloski, 1989), but we have little understanding of how jour
nalists interpret editorial policies in relation to editorial journalism. These gaps have only
been partially addressed by a handful of relatively recent empirical studies using inter
views with editorial journalists in the United Kingdom (Firmstone, 2007, 2008, 2009) and
the United States (Hallock, 2007), a comparative study based on interviews with a range
of journalists including leader writers in seven European countries (Statham, 2007), and
an ethnography of U.S. editorial boards (Meltzer, 2007). Some of the most important
questions asked about editorial journalism relate to the factors that shape editorial opin
ions. Price suggests that the “activist role of the media, especially newspapers, ensures
continuing concern over possible biases in news and editorial practices, owing to the po
litical leanings of network executives, publishers, producers, or rank-and-file
journalists” (Price, 1992, p. 82).
Page 13 of 24

Routines for Issue Selection, Deciding the Agenda, and the Line and
Tone of Editorial Opinion
In contrast to news values, very little is known about the selection criteria routinely ap
plied in editorial journalism. A sociological analysis of editorial journalism in the United
Kingdom identified four editorial values that guided the selection of issues for comment:
(1) assessment of news values (topicality), (2) level of editorial importance, (3) impact on
readers and the United Kingdom, and (4) salience in the wider media debate (Firmstone,
2008, 2009). Judgments regarding the topicality of an issue are based on common jour
nalistic perceptions of news values. The level of editorial importance of an issue is deter
mined by four organizational specific circumstances: (1) the collective interest of the
leader-writing group, (2) the interests of individual journalists within the group, (3) the
interests of the editor, and (4) editorial policies such as relationship to the paper’s mar
keting strategy and campaigning policies. This leads us to the organizational structures of
editorial journalism.
Day-to-day decisions about issue selection and the line to be taken are made at daily
meetings known as leader conferences in the United Kingdom and editorial boards in the
United States. The practice of editorial writing has evolved from being the domain of a
single owner or an individual journalist who wrote everything in a very small paper to the
current situation where opinions are reached by consensus in editorials boards (Hallock,
2007). Editorial boards, which include the editor, publisher, and other newspaper execu
tives, discuss and debate issues in daily meetings until a consensus representing the insti
tutional agenda of the paper is reached. Although the editor makes the final decision, de
cisions are reached through a consultative process in the leader conference at the vast
majority of British newspapers. However, there are significant variations between nation
al newspapers in terms of how well defined and known the “line” of a newspaper is on
any given issue, how democratic the collective editorial decision-making process is, and
consensus on the issue within the team (Firmstone, 2008).
Partisanship as expressed in editorials—specifically, support for parties at election time—

is strongly dependent on historical ties to political parties and traditional alignments. It is
rare for newspapers to break with tradition to declare support for a different political
party. Newspapers base editorial positions regarding social and political issues on their
traditional partisan stance, but some questions about contentious topics that cause divi
sion within political parties require internal debate (Firmstone, 2008; Funt, 2017). For ex
ample, debates over Britain’s membership of the EU did not fall neatly into the traditional
partisan divisions of left and right. Many editorial boards deliberated about endorsing
Donald Trump despite their historical Republican allegiances (Funt, 2017).
The Influence of Proprietors, Ownership, and Editors
A contested point is the extent to which editorial columns represent the voice of a news
paper in the interests of its readers or whether this public voice is expressed more in the
interests of the proprietor and/or individual journalists (including editors) who wish to in
Page 14 of 24

fluence readers or political elites. The evidence suggests a mixed picture, with owners
and proprietors having a strong influence over the direction of partisanship, but less im
pact on how that opinion is expressed. The most significant changes in the direction of
newspapers’ editorial lines and partisanship usually occur as a result of a change in own
ership. However, a change in ownership does not always result in changes to the editorial
policy of the paper, especially when such changes may alienate readers. Editorials at
newspapers serving local communities in the United States were described as serving a
community’s conscience by setting its priorities and serving as a community sounding
board (Hallock, 2007). In some cases, specifically the contentious issue of the EU, the edi
torial importance of an issue to a newspaper was seen to override considerations of the
perceived level of interest among readers (Firmstone, 2009). Candidate endorsements
may reflect the opinion of the proprietor, whether an individual or a corporate entity, the
editor, an individual editorial writer, or a collective decision of an editorial board (Firm
stone, 2008; Funt, 2017). Journalists admit that proprietors often take an interest in edito
rial opinions, but they commonly report that such influence never results in significant
changes to the overall message of an editorial (Firmstone, 2008; Funt, 2017). Much re
search in the 1980s in North America centered on concerns that the increasing concen
tration of ownership of newspapers by corporate “chains” would lead to a reduced diver
sity of editorial opinions and to less vigorously politically engaged editorials because of
fears about offending readers and advertisers (Demers, 1996, 1998; Lacy, 1991; Thrift,
1977). This so-called editorial vigor hypothesis was largely disproved with studies finding
no relationship between editorial page content and chain ownership (Demers, 1996, p.
870).
A study of the influential role of other factors on opinion, such as individuals and the im
plications of organizational routines, has questioned the accuracy of assuming that the
editorial opinions of the British press are simply explained by the influence of proprietors
(Firmstone, 2008). Aside from decisions about the overall position of a newspaper, propri
etorial influence is minimal and does not account for the way that editorials are written.
For instance, the study found no evidence of any direct influence of proprietors in the se
lection of issues for comment, the range of issues commented on, and the way in which is
sues were framed nationally or otherwise. On the specific topic of Europe, Statham’s
comparative study concluded that, with the exception of one paper in the United King
dom, journalists did not consider the political stance of proprietors to be more of a con
sideration when commenting on Europe than when commenting on other issues
(Statham, 2007, p. 470). Key journalists at some newspapers may have an equal or
greater influence on editorial opinions than proprietors (Firmstone, 2008). Certainly, in
the day-to-day production of opinion, individual journalists have greater opportunities to
directly shape newspapers’ opinions than is attributed to them by studies of news produc
tion. Although news production studies see individuals as “replaceable cogs in the wheel”
and suggest that “news changes very little when the individuals who make it are
changed” (Golding & Elliot, 1979, p. 209), the opposite is true of editorial journalism
(Firmstone, 2008). Moreover, in cases where newspapers’ attempts to influence are part
of focused editorial campaigns, individual journalists can be pivotal in formulating the
Page 15 of 24

subject and the style of campaigning policy (Firmstone, 2008). With specific regard to the
influence of editors, a content analysis of editorials at one U.S. newspaper under three
different editors concluded that “the geographical and persuasive positions of a
newspaper’s editorials change considerably with each new editor, even though subject ar
eas from editor to editor may receive the same priority” (Windhauser, Norton, & Rhodes,
1983, p. 583).
Editorial Journalism and Diversity
Although there are few studies that consider the backgrounds of editorial writers sepa
rately from other journalists, there are strong indications that editorial journalism lacks
diversity and gender equality. The anonymous nature of editorial columns (in most coun
tries) removes the possibility of attributing gender, or indeed any other individual trait.
All editorial journalists interviewed for a study of the British national press were male,
white, and predominantly senior (Firmstone, 2008, 2009). Editorial boards in the United
States are male dominated, with few coming from ethnic minority backgrounds (Harp,
Bachmann, & Locke, 2014), and have been described as “cantankerous males of fairly
mature years” (Duff, 2008, p. 232). Given that the personal attitudes and values of jour
nalists significantly influence newspapers’ opinion leading (Firmstone, 2008), it is con
cerning that editorial journalism is a male-dominated domain. In a discourse analysis of
editorials about race, Van Dijk argued that the dominance of white, male, middle-class
leader writers results in the reproduction and legitimization of their dominance of in soci
ety (Van Dijk, 1992).
Discussion of the Literature

As is clear from this entry, the investigation of editorial journalism as a distinctive prac
tice has been largely overlooked and conflated with broader studies of news and journal
ism. In the historiography of research about editorials, relatively small pockets of re
search have focused on the editorial function of newspapers along three parallel trajecto
ries. First, based on the assumptions of media effects theories about the potential conse
quences of editorials for public knowledge and democratic processes, research has been
heavily skewed toward measurements and analyses of the content of editorial articles.
Within this trajectory, there has been a strong contribution from political communications
scholars on the effects of editorial endorsements of candidates and parties at election
time. Although editorials routinely engage in debates that encompass a far wider range of
political and social issues, far fewer studies have analyzed editorial opinion outside of
election periods.
Ongoing normative questions about the role and performance of the press have also moti
vated research that analyzes content to evaluate the relationship between editorial opin
ion, bias, and objective reporting. A second content trajectory rooted in the tradition of
discourse analysis has singled out editorial articles as having a unique argumentation
structure Van Dijk (1992). The majority of discourse studies have analyzed the language
Page 16 of 24

and semantics of editorials with the aim of understanding the way a specific issue has
been communicated. Others have analyzed the structure of editorials as a text and as a
series of interactions between the writer and the reader (Bolívar, 1994), as an assessment
of the rhetorical structure. See Le (2010) for a useful overview of linguistic studies. Third,
a relatively small body of journalism studies research has focused on the routines, prac
tices, and role orientations of editorial journalists and newspaper editorial boards. It is
notable that, with two exceptions (Firmstone, 2008, 2009; Hallock, 2007), empirical analy
ses have analyzed either editorial content or investigated editorial practices, not both.
Perhaps more importantly, aside from attempts to measure the relationship between read
ership of specific newspapers and voting preferences, the audiences of editorials have
been entirely neglected. In addition to scholarly approaches, insights into the world of ed
itorial journalism from the perspective of industry commentators and in the memoirs of
veteran editorial journalists also provide valuable understanding (Funt, 2017; Gartner,
2005; Hynds, 1990, 1995).
Despite following different trajectories, existing research arrives at a shared point of de
parture for the future. Editorial journalism as a distinct and potentially powerful genre
and practice merits far more attention than it has received to date. In particular, theoriz
ing newspapers as active and independent political actors underpins the need for further
research into editorial journalism (Firmstone, 2009). In addition, sociological research in
cluding ethnography, interviews, and participant observation is needed to find out more
about the practice of editorial journalism and influences on editorial opinions (Firmstone,
2008). More qualitative research is needed to look beyond newspapers’ editorial agendas
and the salience of issues in order to understand the decisions behind such choices. Un
derstanding is severely limited to the U.S. context. Future research must expand our un
derstanding of editorial journalism into different journalistic cultures and media systems,
and perhaps most urgently, pursue a de-Westernization agenda.
Finally, the rise of online news media requires a broadening of the current research agen
da in three main directions. First, editorial opinion emerged as a specific role assumed by
newspapers in the media systems of liberal democracies. Its practice continues to be
shaped by this history as well as regulatory contexts. Professional norms and regulations
for the relationship between editorial opinion and news at net native news organizations
are under development. Future research should shine light on how net native news orga
nizations and regulatory policies develop in response to age-old questions about objectivi
ty, bias, and partisanship. Second, as has already begun, inter-media agenda-setting stud
ies should expand to include the relationship between newspapers’ editorial opinions and
news in the networked news media ecology. Early research suggests that partisan online
media may be replacing newspapers as agenda setters for the mainstream media (Meraz,
2011), with others finding a continuing dominance of mainstream media (Rogstad, 2016;
Sjøvaag, Stavelin, Karlsson, & Kammer, 2018). Third, the digital flattening out of the once
distinctive physical geographies used to separate fact from opinion in newspapers raises
a host of questions about how the opinion-leading role of legacy newspapers will operate
in future online news environments.
Page 17 of 24

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Notes:
(1.) Note that the details about specific countries were obtained from a quick survey of
academic colleagues around the world rather than substantial research so should be
treated as indicative rather than decisive. These initial insights into country level varia
tions are intended to show that editorial practices are far from uniform.
Julie Firmstone
School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds
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Editorial Journalism and Newspapers’ Editorial Opin­

Summary and Keywords

Editorial journalism and newspapers’ editorial opinions represent an area of research

Subscriber: University of Leeds; date: 29 June 2020

Introducing Editorial Journalism

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Editorial Journalism as a Distinct Genre and

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The History of Editorial Journalism

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Unfortunately, less is known about the historical development of editorial journalism in

Newspapers’ Editorial Opinions and Partisanship

Subscriber: University of Leeds; date: 29 June 2020

Editorials as Texts—Persuasive Style and Content

Subscriber: University of Leeds; date: 29 June 2020

What Makes Editorial Journalism Unique?

The norms of professional journalism limit the intentional expression of opinions to a

Subscriber: University of Leeds; date: 29 June 2020

Editorials and Other Forms of Opinion Journalism

Editorial journalism can be located as a specific form of journalistic practice by consider­

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The Significance of Editorial Journalism: Per­

Influence on Readers, Voters, and Public Opinion

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Influence on Newspapers’ Internal News Agendas and Other Cover­

Subscriber: University of Leeds; date: 29 June 2020

The Influence of Editorials on Other News Media, Political Elites, and

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Newspapers as Independent Political Actors

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What Shapes Newspapers’ Editorial Positions?

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Partisanship as expressed in editorials—specifically, support for parties at election time—

The Influence of Proprietors, Ownership, and Editors

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Subscriber: University of Leeds; date: 29 June 2020

Editorial Journalism and Diversity

Discussion of the Literature

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Bolívar, A. (1994). The structure of newspaper editorials. In M. Courtland (Ed.), Advances

Cammaerts, B., Decillia, B., & Magalhães, J. C. (2018). Journalistic transgressions in

Conboy, M. (2005). The print industry—yesterday, today and tomorrow: An overview. In R.

Demers, D. K. (1998). Structural pluralism, corporate newspaper structure, and news

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Entman, R. (1993). Framing: Toward a Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm. Journal of

Firmstone, J. (2016). Newspapers’ editorial opinions during the referendum campaign. In

Firmstone, J. (2017). Newspapers’ editorial opinions—stuck between a rock and a hard

Fisher, C. (2016). The advocacy continuum: Towards a theory of advocacy in journalism.

Gajevic, S. (2016). Journalism and formation of argument. Journalism, 17(7), 865–881.

Gans, H. J. (1979). Deciding what’s news. New York, NY: Pantheon.

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Hagen, M. G., & Jamieson, K. H. (2000). Do newspaper endorsements matter? Do politi­

Hallock, S. M. (2007). Editorial and opinion: The dwindling marketplace of ideas in

Howarth, A. (2012). Participatory politics, environmental journalism and newspaper cam­

Hynds, E. C. (1990). Changes in editorials: A study of three newspapers, 1955–1985. Jour­

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Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). (2018). Editors’ code.

Editorial Journalism and Newspapers' Editorial Opinions

Editorial Journalism and Newspapers' Editorial Opinions

Editorial Journalism and Newspapers’ Editorial Opin

Editorial journalism can be located as a specific form of journalistic practice by consider

The Significance of Editorial Journalism: Per

Influence on Newspapers’ Internal News Agendas and Other Cover

Hagen, M. G., & Jamieson, K. H. (2000). Do newspaper endorsements matter? Do politi

Howarth, A. (2012). Participatory politics, environmental journalism and newspaper cam

Hynds, E. C. (1990). Changes in editorials: A study of three newspapers, 1955–1985. Jour

Statham, P. (2007). Journalists as commentators on European politics: Educators, parti