Landon Block is a political science junior and the Opinion Editor at Mustang News. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.
News is objective, but people aren’t. People are messy; we have emotions, biases and, worst of all, opinions. We need the news to reflect what’s going on in the world, but we also need opinion journalism to reflect how people are feeling about it.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the desire and instinct to have everything published in a newspaper crafted to be as neutral as possible. People deserve to draw their own conclusions and shouldn’t be manipulated to always feel a certain way. That seems to have been the major critique of cable news sources, which have increasingly become more sensationalized and polarized.
But if we want to create a space for news to be as objective and neutral as possible, we also need to create a space for people to share their opinions. After all, the problem isn’t that we have opinions and biases; the problem is that we’re confusing them with the news.
Still, audience members on social media have complained about some of the views opinion columns have taken. Instagram comments on certain Mustang News opinion posts read “I don’t really like anyone telling me what I should care about,” “I want to know more about the irrational opinion columnists that the author’s title suggest exist,” “how is this cal poly news” and “My opinion: ‘Opinion’ pieces published by news outlets are weird” and “WTF is this post?!? Just stop already…learn by doing.”
Some went further to attack the political leanings of Mustang News: “no need to post opinion pieces that leans…” and “should you be leaning right or left? Stay credible, don’t lean. You’re not New York Time or New York Post. Just report Cal Poly campus news as you should be.”
What’s the solution to this? I argue it is to dedicate real resources to opinion journalism. Strong opinion sections, like we are working to cultivate at Mustang News, present a perfect opportunity to help share new, pressing and sometimes controversial narratives with the communities most impacted. They can’t give you everything you need (that’s what the other sections are for), but they can give you something you need.
Let’s take a recent controversial policy as a case study: the preparations for Cal Poly’s “Morning on the Green” event to reduce damages and dangerous activity at St. Fratty’s Day celebrations. Mustang News published a traditional news article, and I supplemented its reporting with an opinion column. Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong soon submitted his own response on the situation and took a harsh stance against my column.
While I didn’t directly quote any students in my column, I was far from the only one who spoke out. However, my piece was given the unique platform of Mustang News, so it achieved far greater impact than one person could have achieved through word of mouth or posting on the Cal Poly Snapchat story.
I encourage more people to utilize this platform to share their perspectives. Any member of the Cal Poly and San Luis Obispo community can submit a Letter to the Editor. This year, we’ve published several Letters on various topics, including Cal State’s new AI initiative, the student parent experience and congressional internships.
Contrary to assumptions I’ve encountered, Mustang News often publishes Letters to the Editor even when they explicitly disagree with my own personal views. The AI letter went against my perspective in a previous column after the initiative’s announcement, and President Jeffrey Armstrong’s letter infamously claimed my column included a “thinly veiled threat.”
If I wanted to publish only things I agreed with in my section, or only things I think Cal Poly administration would approve of, things would look very different. The opinion section must run opposing viewpoints because the audience deserves to hear what real people are thinking.
I’ve long held my tongue about these insults to my staff and my section. So now I want to speak up. Not everybody has to agree with every opinion column we publish (not even I do). But if we want to talk about breaking out of our echo chambers and engaging with different types of people, opinion journalism is an easy way to start.
These columns not only help people share their perspective and elevate their communities, but they can also help give a real shot at understanding the “other” side. Whether you’re liberal, conservative, somewhere in the middle or somewhere outside, you are welcome to submit a column.
Opinion journalism should not be anyone’s entire source of news. It has its flaws, as does any other type of media. It heightens personal biases, introduces redundancies, and can be mistaken for objective news. Despite all of these potential shortcomings, I know for a fact that it can have a real impact.
As a senior in high school, I would have never imagined I would be Opinion Editor at an award-winning campus newspaper. But writing one guest column for my high school paper turned into being a recurring contributor for The San Diego Union-Tribune. Next thing I knew, I was here.
So I encourage you to give opinion pieces a chance. Uplift columns you support, hear out ones you might disagree with and consider submitting your own. If we want to understand the world, go to news. If we want to understand each other, go to opinion.
