New 'how-to' sessions added heft to agenda.

The idea was to make the Providence convention a special draw for new members and younger editorial writers: Beef up the Day One schedule with a program of professional enrichment.

In theory, that would provide arguments back in the Front Office. Boss, the new NCEW member could say, Boss, this isn't a whoopee cruise. The session even had pseudo-academic flavor, with presenters sporting "NCEW University" t-shirts, seemingly reflecting the flair of Dave Holwerk, one of the organizers.

Three hour-plus sessions attracted about a dozen participants, mostly newcomers to NCEW or its conventions. Their reward consisted of presentations by four NCEW veterans on topics ranging from journalistic attitude to the mechanics of bright writing and attention-grabbing design.

Holwerk, the editorial page editor of the Sacramento Bee in California, urged opinion page journalists to make better use of readership tools used in other parts of a newspaper--color, position, timeliness, design, local content, and repetition. Most opinion pages are understaffed, he said. They do not have access to graphic designers; editors and publishers often don't want to be bothered by innovation in the opinion section; editorial writers tend to value thoughtfulness over timeliness.

"These barriers relegate editorial pages to the journalistic equivalent of broccoli," Holwerk said.

His advice: "Bringing people to the editorial page is no different than bringing them to the rest of the paper. First, assume that people want to read the damned thing. Second, think about what values you hold important. Then put them in practice."

For example, he said, if thoughtfulness is a value, editors should think about how to be thoughtful and interesting.

Holwerk told of a transit authority in his area with a pricing system that created an inequity for low-income students. The Bee campaigned for change, running a photo of kids from a low-income family and printing a running total, day after day, of how much they had to spend to get to school.

Eventually the rate structure was reformed. Holwerk said he was baffled that many other newspapers seem scared of such tactics. "We used news tools that were essentially within our grasp," he said, defining them as reporting, timeliness, and exclusive local content. "It's not written down anywhere that we can't break news," he said. "It's not written down anywhere that we can't use the tools of investigative reporting."

He also talked about naming state legislators who supported a teachers' union proposal to put curriculum on the bargaining table. Each time another legislator supported the proposal, he said, the Bee, naming names, printed an updated list of "stooges of the teachers' union."

Richard Aregood, the next speaker, made a strong pitch for an editorial page that is at home in its newspaper. Aregood, the editorial page editor of The Star Ledger in Newark, New Jersey, said that a free-wheeling edginess that "worked in Philadelphia," where he won a Pulitzer prize with the Daily News for editorial writing in 1985, would not necessarily work at his current newspaper, which takes a more conventional approach to leadership.

"You have to keep what you do on any editorial page in tune with the character of the paper as defined by the people who own it," he said. Editorial writers also should have a good idea of whom their editorials address, he said. "There's a temptation to talk to the governor and the legislature. They listen. But our franchise is the people who stir things up."

Aregood referred to editorials as "news stories with opinions." Most American editorial pages are no longer intensely ideological, he said, but rather offer opinion packages that include everyone. "Run Cal Thomas," said Aregood, a liberal. "The right wing deserves comfort, too."

He urged his audience to be bold and uncompromising:

* "Don't be afraid to overdo it; pound away at issues and don't back away from them. So what if it's been done before? Do it again."

* "The power of an editorial is to come to a single point, not 43 things you want someone to do." (Cartoonists have more impact than editorial writers, he said later, because they reduce an argument to a single point.)

And, in conclusion: "We could be part of a real revival of editorial pages. We've got the field open to us. If we don't take advantage of it, shame on us."

Holwerk and Aregood agreed that editorial reporters should cooperate with reporters to aid the opinion section's understanding of local issues. Reporters who won't cooperate are guilty of bad judgment, Holwerk said, which was kinder than Aregood's expression, "nitwit reporters."

Holwerk also advised editorial writers to avoid stereotypical liberal/conservative fights over the"four Gs"--God, guns, gays, and gynecology. "These issues don't have to be a constant part of your life," he said.

Appearance counts for much

Also on the faculty of "NCEW University" was Kay Semion, associate editor of the News-Journal in Daytona Beach, Florida. She made the case for artistic layouts as a draw to the opinion pages.

Her presentation consisted of a number of examples that editors around the country had provided. And more--Semion showed how her newspaper, in preparing for an election, had combined journalistic initiative and creative layout to provide a presentation on what the public was looking for in the next election.

"You have to set your priorities in terms of content first," she said before showing a number of layout devices that enhanced the punch of the content.

Semion, displaying examples, said she liked the use of color photos in the editorial column, citing the Journal-Star in Peoria, Illinois, as a model for that practice. She also praised the Syracuse Post-Standard in New York for renaming its op-ed page "The Readers' Page" and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas for a headline, over its legislative summary, "What have they done to us?"

'There are no rules'

Rick Horowitz, echoing a point Aregood made earlier, delivered a strong pitch for courage and creativity in the opinion columns.

"You are editorial writers," he said. "You do whatever it takes to make the telling of it work ... and you have many more options than you think you do."

He introduced the concept of the "whiches of Providence," modeled on The Witches of Eastwick. These "whiches" are choices that editorial writers must think about in order to make opinion writing effective:

Which editorial do you want to write? Which readers are you addressing? Which side are you on? And, ultimately, who are you? With which voice do you intend to speak?

The answers to those questions determine what goes into the editorial, said Horowitz.

For example, do you write as a rabble-rouser, an institutional representative, a community voice, or the best friend of the reader? "Even within a newspaper that has a personality," he said, "you're still allowed to vary the voice." You do so, he said, in part by selecting from the proper "word font." Some words that work for institutional representatives fall flat if used in a piece intended to be rabble-rousing, Horowitz said.

Frank Partsch, of Omaha, Nebraska, is a retiree member of NCEW and editor of The Masthead. E-mail [e-mail]