Talking to Columnists
How online discussion forums are changing the form of the newspaper
Newspapers, newsmagazines and even television news stations have had online versions of themselves for a number of years now. These sites have been developing over time, and are becoming an integral part of many media conglomerates. One particularly interesting development has been the appearance of live chats with columnists. For a few days before the live chat, readers are encouraged to be online at a specific time, and to submit their questions about a certain topic to the columnist during his or her appearance on the site. Some newspapers, such as the Globe and Mail and the Washington Post use this forum on a daily basis, whereas others, use it more sparingly. Interestingly, the National Post does not seem to employ this strategy at all. The Toronto Star has podcasts where columnists speak about particular issues, but also do not seem to use the discussion forum format.
When ordinary citizens are included in these types of discussion, there is a real sense that newspapers are inviting readers to be part of the news process. At the Globe, many of the discussions are timely, relevant, and involve columnists that readers want to talk to. Margaret Wente might make your blood boil but she is an interesting woman and a good writer, so she certainly generates lots of questions when she is the online columnist ‘speaking’ that day. One only needs to glance at her recent discussion about the wearing of the veil by Muslim women to see how interested readers were in learning her opinion on various topics.
For these star columnists, it’s a good chance to interact with readers. While reporters may be interviewing so-called regular people for various pieces, these columnists write about what they want, when they want and do not often quote anybody but themselves. By doing these online chats, they also get another chance to push their point of view, and their article (many discussions link readers to the most recent columns of the writer they are talking with).
Even though columnists are not academic experts on the topics they write about, they are influencers in the sense that they can shape and change the opinions of huge numbers of individuals. For this reason, an intimate interaction with them, such as presented by these online forums, is a step forward in the too-often insular world of news production.
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