14 What is an op-ed?

Most newspapers or news websites have a section dedicated entirely to opinions, often aptly titled “opinion.” This section includes editorials, political cartoons, op-eds, and letters to the editor. All of these things are opinionated texts (rhetoric) created by an author/artist to persuade a target audience.

Op-eds are an important tool in a functioning democracy. They represent a public forum where newspaper columnists or outside experts can weigh in on the important issues of the day. Democracies resolve issues through discussion, not violence, thus the opinion pages are one of the most visible places where those discussions can happen. (These discussions happen on various social media platforms as well but typically in a less organized and less civil fashion.)

The name op-ed refers to the fact that in the print newspaper days, the editorial (opinion written by newspaper staff) was published on one side of the opinion section while the other side of the opinion section (opposite the editorial) featured articles written by outside contributors or sometimes independent columnists within the newspaper.

Reading op-eds is a great way to learn more about the debate surrounding important topics of the day.

Op-eds are designed to be read and responded to by American voters, thus they are designed for a “popular” audience, not an academic/”scholarly” one. More on this distinction here.

Licenses and Attribution

“What is an op-ed?” by Jeff Sanger is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0