News, opinion: A clear separation

By Jane Healy | Editorial Page Editor

January 1, 2005

A change on the Sentinel's masthead nine months ago carried more significance than a mere change of names and titles. Instead of listing editorial page editor -- my position -- under the name of the Sentinel's editor, that position started being listed next to the Sentinel's editor.

Readers should care about this masthead change. It signaled that the Sentinel was going even further in separating news and opinion. In fact, the masthead says exactly that. Charlotte Hall, the Sentinel's editor, is listed under news and I am listed under opinion.

Until this change was made, the editorial page editor reported to the editor, who reported to the publisher. Now both I and Hall report to the publisher, Kathleen Waltz.

This change has everyone here feeling more comfortable. As with all good newspapers, we believe in a strict separation of news and opinion. The purpose is to make sure that our editorial stands, which run on the left-hand side of the daily editorial page, don't influence news stories. Those should be driven totally by the news itself.

For instance, when we endorse a candidate on the editorial page, that should have no bearing on the news stories. Indeed, readers should not be able to tell from the news columns whether we endorsed that candidate or not. And the same goes for every other issue. If we push a new arena in downtown Orlando, that should have absolutely no bearing on the news coverage. If news reporters discover that such an arena would cost more money than everyone expected, for instance, the story would run regardless.

Editorial stands are decided by the 12-member Editorial Board pictured above. All of them -- writers, editors and a cartoonist -- report up through me. They have nothing to do with the newsroom.

But try as we might, it was hard to convince readers of that. As long as the editorial page editor reported to the editor of the newspaper, some people were suspicious. So when Hall was named editor in March, Waltz decided to make a clean break.

The Sentinel is not alone in doing this. Nor was it alone in its previous structure. I'd say newspapers across the country are split on this -- even at the papers owned by the Sentinel's parent Tribune Co.

We also made that clean break with our editorials in the regional editions. Previously, the county editors or columnists in Lake, Seminole, Osceola and Volusia wrote editorials. Now we have a regional editorial writer.

Will readers still be suspicious that editorial stands are coloring news stories?

Perhaps. But we feel comfortable now that we have done everything we can to discourage that perception.

Jane E. Healy, the Sentinel's editorial page editor, can be reached at jhealy@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5406.

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