MS Fact VS. Opinion : Home

When reading news ask yourself the following questions:

1. Where is the information coming from?

2. What is the intent or purpose of publishing this information?

3. Is the purpose to inform, or is it to persuade and offer an opinion? 

The EJN director, Aidan White, describes the five values which are the foundation of ethical journalism as: accuracy; independence; impartiality; humanity; and accountability.

What if the difference between NEWS and OPINION articles?

1. NEWS article offer an accurate, impartial account of events and the purpose is to inform the reader. 

2. OPINION articles are labeled as such in major publications, and often written by one individual or columnist. The purpose of an opinion article is to persuade the reader about an issue offering facts and a point of view. Sometimes people are invited to write opinion pieces on a certain topic, and sometimes the opinion article is written by a regular columnist.

3. An Op-ED (in print on the opposite side of the editorial page) is opposite the editorial page of the paper, and is a place to find opinion articles.  Notice there are different kinds of opinion articles.  

3. An EDITORIAL is a newspaper or magazine article that gives the opinions of the editors or publishers of the publication, so it is the opinion of a group of people representing the publication.  Editorials are a type of OPINION article.