What is a newspaper? What makes up news media? If you’re like how I was in my first year, you imagine the front page of The New York Times: breaking news, political drama, crime, war, sports and everything in between. News outlets should publish hard, sometimes brutal and always objective facts.
That’s what I thought until I started writing for The Student.
I began writing for the opinion section during my first year as a creative outlet from a schedule full of biology lectures and chemistry labs. I chose opinion columns simply because they seemed to require the least amount of work. I quickly learned I loved writing these columns for the freedom to express myself.
Fast forward to today, and I am head of the opinion section. I have been part of the editorial staff for over a year and have written and edited traditional news stories in my other section, GreenHawks. I have done basic event coverage, watched our newsroom break news on the cutting of humanities majors and reported on Miami’s budget deficit. I have appreciated how tirelessly the editors and writers work to provide our readers with unbiased, local news.
This is an incredibly important aspect of our newspaper, of any paper, but it cannot stop there. While being involved in this side of journalism, I have also realized how crucial the flip side is, the side that does not shy away from bias and emotion: opinion writing.
News cannot exist in a vacuum. Other stories and events can give context, but there needs to be something else. There needs to be humanity, there needs to be emotion. There needs to be someone who can give words to the thoughts arising not just from their minds, but from the minds of their readers as well.
Humans are deeply social creatures, and an opinion section is where this social connection resides in newspapers. Anyone who has taken a journalism class will remember the three metaphors for journalism: the mirror, the watchdog and the marketplace. Opinion writing is the marketplace, the crucial medium where we can offer and discuss our ideas. It is where our natural instinct to interact with our fellow humans exists.
From staff editorials to guest columns from Oxford citizens to one-off columns from students who will never write again, the TMS opinion section thrives on a diversity of voices. Reading someone’s passionate view on a controversial issue or intimate appreciation for how a certain healing method has guided them through tough times brings me great joy as an opinion editor. We need these voices to make sense of the crazy world we live in.
Our country and our world can seem terribly divided, but when you read other’s opinions you get to learn, and you can learn compassion from their words. We are all rolling with the punches life throws at us, whether they are big, small or upsetting stories of national importance. Bringing our thoughts and feelings to the public helps others realize that humans are still out there behind the complex web of news media.
We are not robots. We are not meant to mindlessly absorb information and push it deep inside. We must express ourselves, and where better to do that than in the same media organization giving you that information in the first place. We’re all humans in the end.
Sam Norton is a senior biology major with an environmental science co-major and a journalism minor. He has been writing for The Student since his first year, won a regional SPJ award for his opinion columns, and is currently the GreenHawks and Opinion editor. He loves the outdoors and working with his fellow TMS writers and editors.
Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter
Read More
Living in Luxembourg: Final moments
By Raquel Hirsch | January 7, 2025Opinion columnist Raquel Hirsch refelcts on her time studying abroad in Luxembourg the past semester, while at the same time learning to appreciate what she missed from home.
How I learned to be feminine in college
By Taylor Powers | December 29, 2024I was a total tomboy when I was younger. Makeup, hair products, glitter, pink, dresses; if it was considered girly, it wasn’t for me. I don’t know how to be feminine. I don’t know how to be a woman. But, I’m learning.
Your freedom of speech is making me uncomfortable
By Parker Green | December 24, 2024Opinion writer Parker Green understands that the protesters who often stand outside of Armstring and preach their beliefs are allowed to do so. BUt that doesn't stop her from qiestioning when the line to harrasment is crossed.