I was reading Christopher Hitchens' column on Slate.com today. Then I read the comments and learned something. People don't understand basic journalism.
Christopher Hitchens writes editorials. Editorials are not bound by objectivity. Of course it has an agenda, Wendy73! Every good editorial has a specific persuasive agenda. It is not "pour journalism"[sic] It is an op-ed piece. If Hitchens wants to call the LDS church a "mad cult," it's perfectly acceptable in an op-ed column called "Fighting Words." If he wants to say "Vanilla ice cream is the best and we should rid the world of all other flavors," it's perfectly acceptable in an opinion piece.
You cannot, however, put "Vanilla ice cream is the best and we should rid the world of all other flavors," in the article "New Ice Cream Factory Opens Today." That is editorializing and we do not editorialize in hard news pieces.
As a journalism student, I didn't think this was some kind of special knowledge. Apparently, I'm wrong. Opinion in op-ed piece = ok. Opinion in hard news = bad. 'Kay? 'Kay.
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