 The columnist informs the reader of what

he may not know – in the case of the dopester.

 The columnist “forms” or helps to form
public opinion when he comments with logic,
humor or emotion on an issue of the day.
The columnist features news that papers
may have forgotten to report. He presents
tidbits or stories that the reporter has failed
to notice, to provide a background to the main
stories on Page One.
As an interpreter, the columnist condenses
the main news into clear, logical and effective
sentences or paragraphs to emphasize the
meat of the story so as to form opinion, to
expose fraud wherever it exists, or like the
main editorial, to teach, to praise, to attack,
to appeal or to entertain.
As a fiscalizer, the columnist acts as an
arbiter. In the political arena, he fiscalizes
not only the government and the ruling party,
but also the minority party.
A campus journalist, in the same vein,
fiscalizes not only the administration, but also
the faculty and the studentry. He analyzes the
facts, interprets them, and forms logical and
informed public opinion. He gives inside
information on what people do not know, of
things they are not privy to, and of secret
doings that are hidden from public view.
 The main purpose of the column is
to inform, to interpret, and to a large
degree, to fiscalize.
Other Purposes of the Column:
1. To explain the news. Ordinary news
stories usually give only the superficial
information regarding an event; only the
immediate circumstances surrounding it.
The columnist has to explain their
significance and consequences by:
a. Giving the background of an event.
b. Determining whether a certain event
is an isolate case or part of the pattern.
c. Pointing out how an event will affect or
not affect his readers.
d. Pooling together and assessing comments
of readers from the different segments
of society.
2. To entertain the readers. This purpose
of the column enhances the reader’s
interest in the paper. When a reader picks
up a newspaper, he does not only want to be
informed but also to be entertained. Some
columns fulfill this desire of the reader.
 Types of Editorial Column
According to Content

1. The “opinion” column (also called the

“signed editorial column”). Resembles an
editorial in form but, in contrast with the
editorial’s impersonal and anonymous
approach, carries the personal, stamp of
the writer’s own ideas.
2. The hodge-podge column. Where the
author lumps together odds and ends of
information, a poem here, an announcement
there, a paragraph there, a pointed
paragraph, a modernized proverb, a joke,
or an interesting quotation.
3. The essay column (increasingly rare). Is a
legacy from a more leisurely age when
writers could sit and scribble and muse in
light or purpose prose.
4. The gossip column. Caters to the inherent
interest of human beings. Unfortunately, the
reader’s eyes light up more frequently when
they spy the vices rather than the virtues of
others. The society columnists (as well as the
otherwise sober ones who occasionally
dabble in small talk) chronicle here the facts
and foibles of the great and near-great , the
social climbers an the true celebrities.
5. The dopester’s column. Written by the
columnist who also has his eye to the keyhole
but with a more serious purpose. The
columnist’s “pipeliness” to sources of
information often give him the ability to
“forecast” news before it happens, bare still
unannounced plans and appointments, reveal
“secret facts”, and lay bare the secrets of
government and finance open to scrunity.