Commentary – text that follows the news – many times consists of analyzing, interpreting the article, and highlighting the most significant aspects of it.
To do this, we need to know the background of the news story, its relevance in national or international events, the precedents that explain it or justify it and its consequences.
For this reason, commentators or leading writers for newspapers have to be true specialists in one of the main branches of knowledge: one knows about politics; the other is an expert in international relations; one is an expert in plastic arts; another is a specialist in education. We can appreciate leading writers because of the intensity of their style, their political or ideological position, etc.
When writing a leading article or an editorial comment, there’s a lot of freedom. There’s no correct order: the commentator starts writing what he thinks is best. However, it’s important – like in all written works – to work hard on the first paragraphs, which tend to catch the readers’ attention.
Because readers of editorial comments are usually educated people, the commentator makes an effort to avoid trite phrases, commonplaces and unfounded reasoning. He fights to earn an audience thanks to his critical acumen, his independent opinion, professional honesty and his value.
Many people of science, politics, and others, have collaborated on writing editorial comments in big modern newspapers. It’s enough to say that if the press has been called the fourth estate, editorial commentators are the ones leading this type of media.
Recent Comments