5 ms·

This is (probably) off-topic, but I wanted to touch on it anyway, because it jumped out at me. The topic of the article is as follows: > Editorial: Students p

This is (probably) off-topic, but I wanted to touch on it anyway, because it jumped out at me. The topic of the article is as follows: > Editorial: Students pay high price for UM diversity goals The title explicitly lists this as an editorial, rather than factual report. The article also lists in the header: > EDITORIAL | Opinion This piece expresses the views of its author(s), separate from those of this publication. So the paper is being very clear that this is someone's opinion that they're publishing, rather than the position of the paper. However, there is no authorship information for this article that I could find (other than a photographer's credit for the image), nor does the article specifically state this it was published by an anonymous author. It simply says "The Detroit News," which implies that the article was authored by the paper's editorial staff, which contradicts the statement that the piece doesn't represent the views of the publication. Is this fake news? As far as I can tell, The Detroit News is a legitimate (if slightly conservative-leaning) paper, and the OP's article is on their domain. So why hide the author(s) of an opinion piece?

prirun 5y ago
This does not sound like opinion: "Mark Perry, professor of finance and business economics at the University of Michigan-Flint, says administrative bloat is hurting higher education. Perry used Department of Education data to find that between 1976 and 2011, the number of U.S. college students increased by 91 percent, while the number of full-time college administrators increased by 139 percent, compared to an increase in the number of full-time faculty of only 76 percent."
indrora 5y ago
Conjecture, but backed up by the experiences I had with Journalism classes in college, part of my major: Such pieces are typically written by a high-ranking individual within the publication, but they wish to deflect the backlash that can come from writing such a piece, so the "staff" name is used to shield the writer from criticism. It's mostly Must-Run content: Content that a funding source or otherwise powerful position within the organization has deemed must be printed. Must-Run content is commonly used to burn or otherwise redirect vitriol, or more often establish a common message among many publications. Such things are also used to push local news outlets to [tow a line](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fHfgU8oMSo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fHfgU8oMSo) by their parent organizations (such as Sinclair Media group) In the case of staff revolting, it's used to shield the individuals. In the case of a single high ranking individual, it's used to shield the individual by forcing the group to take the hit. The practice is common enough it is [regularly a topic of discussion in citation styles](https://penandthepad.com/cite-editorial-author-4970.html https://penandthepad.com/cite-editorial-author-4970.html).

prirun 5y ago

This does not sound like opinion: "Mark Perry, professor of finance and business economics at the University of Michigan-Flint, says administrative bloat is hurting higher education. Perry used Department of Education data to find that between 1976 and 2011, the number of U.S. college students increased by 91 percent, while the number of full-time college administrators increased by 139 percent, compared to an increase in the number of full-time faculty of only 76 percent."

indrora 5y ago

Conjecture, but backed up by the experiences I had with Journalism classes in college, part of my major: Such pieces are typically written by a high-ranking individual within the publication, but they wish to deflect the backlash that can come from writing such a piece, so the "staff" name is used to shield the writer from criticism. It's mostly Must-Run content: Content that a funding source or otherwise powerful position within the organization has deemed must be printed. Must-Run content is commonly used to burn or otherwise redirect vitriol, or more often establish a common message among many publications. Such things are also used to push local news outlets to [tow a line](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fHfgU8oMSo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fHfgU8oMSo) by their parent organizations (such as Sinclair Media group) In the case of staff revolting, it's used to shield the individuals. In the case of a single high ranking individual, it's used to shield the individual by forcing the group to take the hit. The practice is common enough it is [regularly a topic of discussion in citation styles](https://penandthepad.com/cite-editorial-author-4970.html https://penandthepad.com/cite-editorial-author-4970.html).