In Europe, editorializing not a profession.

In Scandinavia and elsewhere on the continent, too many editorial sections are the journalistic equivalent of Jurassic Park.

Two years ago, a friend and I decided to write a book about writing editorials. Not a very sensational or new idea? In Norway it was. There wasn't, and still isn't - since our progress is rather slow - any book on the subject in Norwegian. We searched the other Scandinavian countries, but still found no book on editorial writing. We searched in the rest of Europe, but found none.

The same search in North America gave a totally different result. We got long lists of books, and I now have approximately one meter of them on my bookshelf.

During these searches I also came across NCEW. We have no such thing in Europe. We have journalists' associations; we have editors' associations, organizations for sports reporters, cultural reporters, wine reporters, motor reporters, and all the rest. But not one for editorial writers.

That's the difference. In North America, editorial writing is a profession. In Europe it is not. Different traditions and attitudes govern the editorial section, as well as who can write them and their importance.

In British newspapers, the system is more or less like the American one. Some journalists write news stories; others write editorials, which are called leaders.

In Swedish newsrooms it's more or less the same, whereas in France many newspapers don't have editorial staff or editorials at all. Instead their news is opinionated.

In my country, the editor-in-chief writes most editorials. Only the six or seven largest newspapers - we have around 160 newspapers in Norway - have staff assigned to writing editorials and commentaries. As a rule, editorial writers are editors and older (hopefully wiser) journalists who often are too laid-back.

"The Swedish editorial page - its content, its language, its form - suffers from arteriosclerosis," writes a Swedish editor. "The editorial pages are journalism's Jurassic Park, populated by half-academic and academic men who associate in a reservation of mutual admiration." The same could could be said about Norwegian editorial pages.

In my own newspaper, I am responsible for the editorials, and write seven out of 10. The rest are written by the others, mostly the foreign editor.

What do I get out of the NCEW meetings? Isn't the difference too large between the American and the Norwegian culture? Isn't the discussion too . . . American?

Yes and no. Actually, the writing process and style are not too different. I have learned a lot during the critique sessions, although I write in another language.

Yes, the discussions are very U.S.-oriented. That's my other gain at the convention: I learn something about American editorial writers' interests and attitudes and focus. Through this I learn something about the American people and society that otherwise would be difficult to pick up during my short stays.

NCEW member Stein B. Hauglid is political editor of Dagens Naeringsliv in Oslo, Norway.