Never write 'dead fish' editorials

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, June, 1998 by Barbara Love

"As editors serving specific businesses, which we ultimately depend on for our economic well-being, we live in a perilous world," Doug Condra, vice president-publishing and editorial director, Newport Communications, told attendees at a recent American Business Press seminar for editors. "Irritate your reader enough and he'll stop reading you.

Rap your advertisers on the knuckles enough and they'll lose interest." The easiest, most comfortable way through all this is to take the middle of the road, he said, but then quickly reminded his colleagues that "the middle of the road is the best place to get run over by readers who are easily bored and by competitors who do take stands in their editorials." Condra, who has won many editorial awards over the years, including the coveted Crain Award for outstanding career accomplishments, has no doubt that taking an aggressive editorial stance has had something to do with his success. Over the years, he has gone against the prevailing wisdom of many groups, including readers and advertisers, to make a point. Sometimes he has used humor in his editorials; sometimes a baseball bat. "Editorials should be written to stimulate thought," he stressed, "not generate popularity. To my way of thinking, an editorial needs to offer something fresh. Preferably it will present an issue, analyze the options for any problems surrounding it, and offer a solution." The bottom line, he said, is that the editor's opinion should be part of the editorial.