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The problem I have with leader articles are that they do not offer anything unexpected. If you read a Polly Toynbee or a Kelvin McKenzie column you know what you are going to get. They have long since nailed their colours to the mast and it will be the usual self-aggrandising spiels either blaming the political right or the political left for all the world's ills.

As newspapers have inexorably shifted to opinionpapers, more and more of these so-called independent columns have become suffused with the dark essence of their multi-millionaire media conglomerate bosses to the point I often wonder if the columnists are writing what they actually believe or what they feel will paint them in the most positive light with their editors and owners. You don't want to rock the boat too much as it's not everyone's good fortune to get paid to write a few hundred words about what you think. Mostly I have to rant at people in shops or on the bus and they don't pay me and often end up calling the police.

I do think there is a place for leader articles as long as they offer balance. I would like to see a topic discussed from several different angles, whereby columnists have to debate eachother, offering a valuable fact-checking to the often spurious drivel that emanates from the pens of these media scribes. That way, if you are not possessed of your own opinion on a topic then you have the opportunity to form one based on the divergent opinions laid before you. Saying all that, I give the public too much credit and the joy of being a nobody is I don't have to say nice things about people. Woo! I fear most people read leader articles merely to confirm their own entrenched view of the world and give themselves some thinly-researched 'facts' and handy soundbytes with which to dazzle their likeminded friends in the pubs and workplaces of the nation.

I don't know who reads comment articles but I got bored reading these headlines for them.

I did read about Richard and Judy defying literary snobs, but it was a "proper" article in the Sunday Times... I suppose that's what it's all about though; read something interesting elsewhere and give your opinion for lots of money!!

Personally, the opinion pieces are amongst my favourite parts of the papers. I get 'news' (as in breaking stories and the facts of the matter) from a number of sources - not least of all the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ website. In this day and age, in fact, it strikes me that I've normally heard through some other medium most of the front few pages of any given paper by the time they reach the news-stands.

One can get more background and detail on any given story from (some) newspapers, which can be useful, but it's the opinion pieces that make me continue buying a daily newspaper. It's different at the weekend, when one tends to get much more in-depth coverage of stories, of course.

I should add that I am an Independent reader, and with that newspaper, at least, one gets a real range and variety of opinions expressed (some of which may well be at variance with the editoral policy of the Independent).

I'd agree with DylanDoesReading above - one can (usually) guess the thrust of an opinion piece by looking at the title and author - but a well-written opinion piece can still be stimulating.

Turning back to the Indy, where else would one find Mark Steele and Dominic Lawson (for example) on the same page? (Bruce Anderson seems to have left the paper, which is a shame, as I don't get angry nearly enough in my everyday life, and at least once a week I could be assured the red mist would descend...)

As DrKF77 says, the facts of news are all around us these days - by the time I get to see a newspaper in print I have usually bumped into any main story in at least two different media beforehand (I wake up to the Today programme and browse the internet intermittently throughout the day). I would not want the main thrust of news reporting to be anything but unbiased and factual, but opinions have their place in the world too. I don't usually read newspaper comment columns for the simple reason that I don't usually buy newspapers, but I definitely have trusted opinion blogs on the internet that I return to regularly, to read the opinions of someone with more specialist knowledge than me on a subject.

Whilst it is true that you usually know roughly what you're getting with an opinion columnist, that may be just what you need that day. A familiar, coherent voice offering their take on a problem - something with which one can either agree or disagree. Facts will remain facts forever, but sometimes it is nice to bounce off a few other people's opinions of those facts - it helps to shape and solidify your own.

(Obviously it is particularly nice when an opinion piece agrees with my own opinions about everything. I take those moments as proof of my complete perfection.)

I only ever read the Evening Standard comments. Actually I never read the Paper Monitor either... I generally find comments boring. I want to know the news, not what someone else thinks about them.

In regards to en-joy, comment # 6 here, I rather think that is the opinion of a kill-joy myself.
Perhaps the writer might pay some little attention to the quest for an attentive scribe
rather than lambast the rest of us for only offering our own thoughts.

littleDickie

NY USA

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