Survey probes status of op-ed journalism and practices of op-ed editors

Newspaper Research Journal, Spring 1998 by Ciofalo, Andrew

17. Robert Famighetti, ed., The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1994. Mahwah, New Jersey: Funk & Wagnalls, World Almanac Books, 1994, p.291. The Almanac reports that as of February 1,1993 there were 1,570 dailies in the U.S. with a total daily circulation of 60,164,499, an average circulation of 38,321. The top 100 circulating dailies account for more than 50 percent of the total circulation (average: 305,582), while the remaining 1,470 papers have an average circulation of 20,140. While papers with more than 100,000 circulation represent about 7 percent of the national total, these large papers comprise 22.6 percent of the survey sample.

18. Julie Winkelpleck, ed. Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media. Detroit: Gale Research Inc.,1992. vols 1 and 2.

19. Famighetti, op. cit., p. 291. On the national level, a.m.'s comprise 37 percent of the total papers but 91 percent of the top 100 circulating papers.

20. Ciofalo and Traverso, op. cit., pp. 51-63

21. Semple, op. cit., p. 1.

22. Andrew Ciofalo, Harrison E. Salisbury: Father of Op-Ed Journalism. The Sentinel, monthly section in the Baltimore Chronicle, November 1993.

23. Ciofalo and Traverso, op. cit., pp. 51-63.

24. The author acknowledges the assistance of his then undergraduate student, Kim Traverso, in compiling the survey data and likewise Mark Peyrot, director of Loyola's Center for Social and Community Research, for his perspective on interpreting the data. Neil Alperstein, chair of Loyola's Writing and Media Department, provided valuable insights into reorganizing earlier drafts of the articles developed from the survey.

Ciofalo is associate professor of writing and media at Loyola College in Maryland, where he heads the newly-established Center for the Advanced Study of Op-Ed Journalism