Editing Op-ed (section)

== Origin ==

The "Page Op.", created in 1921 by [[Herbert Bayard Swope]] of ''[[New York World|The New York Evening World]],'' is a possible precursor to the modern op-ed.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last=Socolow |first=Michael J. |date=2010 |title=A Profitable Public Sphere: The Creation of the New York Times Op-Ed Page |url=https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1001&context=cmj_facpub |work=Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly |publisher=University of Maine}}</ref> When Swope took over as main editor in 1920, he opted to designate a page from editorial staff as "a catchall for book reviews, society boilerplate, and obituaries".<ref>Meyer, K. (1990). ''Pundits, poets, and wits''. New York: Oxford University Press.</ref> Swope explained:

{{Blockquote|"It occurred to me that nothing is more interesting than opinion when opinion is interesting, so I devised a method of cleaning off the page opposite the editorial, which became the most important in America ... and thereon I decided to print opinions, ignoring facts."<ref>Swope, H. B. as quoted in Meyer, K. (1990). ''Pundits, poets, and wits''. New York: [[Oxford University Press]], p. xxxvii.</ref>}}

The modern op-ed page was formally developed in 1970 under the direction of The New York Times editor [[John Bertram Oakes|John B. Oakes]]. Media scholar [[Michael J. Socolow]] writes of Oakes' innovation:  <blockquote>"The Times' effort synthesized various antecedents and editorial visions. Journalistic innovation is usually complex and typically involves multiple external factors. The Times op-ed page appeared in an era of democratizing cultural and political discourse and economic distress for the company itself."<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>The newspaper's executives developed a place for outside contributors, with space reserved for sale at a premium rate for additional commentaries and other purposes.

[[The Washington Post]] too published its own version of the op-ed right before the New York Times debuted in September 1970. Significant differences between The Post's op-ed page and The Times’s op-ed page include The Washington Post having no ads and no artistic component. In the 1930s, The Washington Post began referring to its commentary section as the "op-ed page," situated opposite its editorial page.  The [[Los Angeles Times]] followed suit with a similar designation in the 1950s and 1960s, while [[Chicago Tribune|The Chicago Tribune]] had tried a variation of this format as early as 1912.<ref name=":0" /> That is to say that while we credit Oakes as the creator of the op-ed, the true origins of the op-ed are highly debated in the journalistic sphere.<ref name=":1" />