Opinion journalism
As opinion journalism is defined as a form of journalism , is based in the firm stand on certain issues. It differs from interpretative journalism , which cites several points of view to enable the reader to form his own opinion .
Legal journalism is a specific form of opinion journalism .
Opinion journalism was the original form of journalism and dominated the media world until the First World War . Today it has lost some ground, especially after the rise of interpretive journalism from the 1950s , but it continues to take its place in the media , not least because of the abolition of the fairness doctrine in the USA.
Features of opinion journalism
Opinion journalism uses argumentative notation, which is based on clear arguments with which the journalist tries to convince the reader. Arguments can be of various kinds: data, developments, citations from authorities (e.g. experts), statistics or your own observations. They are used to support the thesis of the writing journalist and to make his conclusions more plausible.
As a rule, the journalist first sets out his thesis in an opinion article, then supports it with the help of arguments and finally comes to a conclusion that expands the thesis and closes its content. Exceptions to this rule are freer genres such as chronicle and column (see below).
Genres
The most common genre of opinion journalism is commentary . It takes a position on a specific, current topic and accompanies a message or report . Comments can be found both in graphic media (especially in newspapers and online media , less so in magazines ), as well as on the radio and, to a lesser extent, on television , where it is mostly part of magazine programs. The comment is made by a specific journalist who can be clearly identified in text or images. A short comment written in satirical, snappy language is also called a gloss .
A special form of commentary is the leading article , which only appears in graphic media. It reflects the opinion of the editors and is normally only represented once in the medium. Editorials are characterized by the fact that they cannot be assigned to a specific journalist, but nevertheless clearly take a position on a topic.
The column, in turn, is a periodical article by a journalist who writes regularly, the so-called columnist . Columns often take a stand on topics that are off the headlines but should, in the writer's opinion, be in the general interest. They are much more free in their form than commentaries and editorials and often have a language similar to that used in literature , so they include narrative, sometimes also fictional content. Columns are most commonly found in graphic media, less often on radio and audiovisual media.
The criticism or review relates to a specific work in the cultural field and reflects the opinion of the journalist on it.
Especially since the advent of the World Wide Web in the 1990s , mixed forms between the different genres of opinion journalism have been found more frequently, which are mainly found in online magazines. A particularly topical form is the weblog , a stylistically very free hybrid of commentary and column, in which the writer presents his view of current events at regular intervals, similar to a diary .