By Blake Toppmeyer
During my 3 ½ years at the Index, it has become clear to me that the Our View is probably the most often misunderstood written piece in our newspaper.
Some readers do not understand why the Our View does not have a byline, as most stories and columns do. Readers have questioned whether this means the author is embarrassed to print his/her name with the editorial or whether we try to hide behind a secretive cloak.
In reality, this is not the case. The Our View is not unique to the Index. It is a consistent editorial element of most newspapers, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and USA Today. And the Index also is not unique in not printing a byline with the editorial.
We don’t publish a byline because although the Our View is written by one person, it represents the view of the Index Editorial Board, which consists of the Editor in Chief, Managing Editor, Opinions Editor, News Editor and Copy Chief. This semester, the Index has operated under a copy-chief-by-committee format, so the editorial board has only consisted of four people.
The editorial board meets every Monday to discuss topics that could develop into an Our View. We then narrow down the list of options and try to hammer out arguments for one or more topics. The editorial board makes every attempt to write about a topic and stance that the entire editorial board can agree upon. If no such topic/stance can be found, we will take the stance that the majority supports.
In most cases, the Opinions Editor will write the Our View, and the other members of the editorial board will then edit it. Occasionally, the Editor in Chief or Managing Editor will write the Our View.
Although the Our View represents the view of the editorial board — or at least the majority opinion of the editorial board — it does not necessarily represent the opinion of the entire staff. Such an editorial would be nearly impossible, considering the Index employs about 65 students.
Hopefully this clears up some questions on how the Index approaches the Our View each week. Thanks for reading.
Tags: editorial, Kirksville, newspapers, Op-Ed, Truman Index, Truman State University
