Nieman Foundation at Harvard
If the daily newspaper sometimes seems like a fusty relic, that’s especially true of the opinion pages. The standard format — chin-stroking editorials representing the anonymously expressed views of the institution, opinion columns by staff writers and outside contributors, letters to the editor, and a cartoon — has been unchanged for decades.
Since 2014, though, The Boston Globe’s editorial-page editor, Ellen Clegg, has been overseeing a gradual metamorphosis. Clegg, a veteran Globe journalist who replaced Peter Canellos after he left for Politico, has presided over a vibrant print redesign, the expansion of digital content, an innovative interactive feature on gun violence, and even a parody front page of what a Donald Trump presidency would look like. In an era when we all feel overwhelmed by a flood of information, Clegg is showing how editorial pages can cut through the noise and force readers to take notice.
For the past two years, the Globe’s opinion pages have published new year’s resolutions in the first Sunday edition of January. This year’s, headlined “We Resolve: What Readers Can Expect from the Globe’s Editorial Pages in 2018,” outlines an eclectic agenda, from keeping a close eye on Google and Facebook, to pushing for transportation improvements, to addressing racism “in all its forms.”
I asked Clegg where the idea for editorial-page new year’s resolutions came from and what she hopes it will accomplish. Our lightly edited email exchange follows.
Keven Ann Willey, then the editorial-page editor of The Dallas Morning News, had done a new year’s resolution package, and John and Linda Henry brought me a hard copy of that section after a trip to Dallas. [John Henry is the Globe’s owner and publisher; his wife, Linda Henry, is the managing director.] We all thought it was a format that could serve as a guidepost for our own readers.
To state the obvious, something like this doesn’t happen overnight. The editorial board met periodically during the year to develop ideas and discuss how we were doing against our 2017 goals. Beginning in the summer, we also had full-board discussions to shape 2018 goals. It’s a great way to organize our thinking and to be more transparent with readers — with the caveat that the news cycle is unpredictable, so we have to be flexible and willing to incorporate changes as the year unfolds.
New year’s resolutions shouldn’t fade by February. We’ll meet regularly as a board to track our progress, but many of these issues are in the news every week, so the goals filter into our daily board discussions, as well.
Our “Make It Stop” package after the mass shooting in Orlando showed the power inherent in digital presentation — readers could tweet or email lawmakers who were swing votes on gun control, and could see in real time how fast an assault weapon can shoot. We learned how important it is to have writers and editors and digital producers working collaboratively, near each other. It’s a model for the future.
Dan Kennedy is an associate professor of journalism at Northeastern University and a panelist on Beat the Press, a weekly media program on Boston’s WGBH. His next book, The Return of the Moguls: How Jeff Bezos and John Henry Are Remaking Newspapers for the Twenty-First Century, will be published in March.
