I confessed in a July 2003 column that I am at least as much a fan of the opinion sections of newspapers as I am of their news pages. I was praising Opinion-Pages.org, links to opinion pages of more than 600 English-language publications in 30 countries (and a smaller number of letters-to-the-editor sections).
I have since found a smaller site which uses an editor’s touch to sort out and categorize the pieces. It’s called “John Peter Zenger Lives” and is accessible at JohnPeterZenger.com as “a daily index of opinion from mainstream American newspapers.” The site is run by Kate Fox, a self-described “news junkie and recovering journalist” (formerly of The Dallas Morning News, The Daily News of Los Angeles, Scripps-Howard Business Journals, and elsewhere).
Each weekday by 10 a.m. Eastern Time and noon on weekends, Fox (who lives in California) links to a variety of editorials, op-eds, and commentaries, dividing them according to subject matter. Among them: Elections 2004; Economy/Medicare, Inside Washington, etc. She also makes timely additions of new categories. Her current Spain roundup is an excellent way to keep up with “Europe’s 9/11.”
She also divides the pieces by the newspaper’s name and by the name of each columnist, chosen from a subjective list. You can suggest new columnists for her to link to at webmaster@johnpeterzenger.com.
I wanted to see how long my editor would let me wait to explain who John Peter Zenger was. I know I am testing her patience, so here goes. According to the site’s “So, who the heck is John Peter Zenger?” page, Zenger was a German-born printer who ran the New York Weekly Journal. The site says, “He didn’t write the message he delivered, but he made sure his readers would hear both sides of the issues of the day. That’s the goal of JohnPeterZenger.com. There’s no political agenda here; the goal is to give visitors as many resources as possible to explore the depth of current commentary in daily mainstream newspapers of every stripe — so they can make informed decisions for themselves.”
YOUR TURN: Send your thoughts — and useful sites — to poynter@sree.net.
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SAJA’s 10th Anniversary Convention and Job Fair is June 17-20, 2004 at Columbia University in NYC & the SAJA Journalism Awards entry deadline is April 2. You don’t have to be South Asian to attend or enter the contest!
