Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 370 Journalism: Publishing Across Media The Columnist as Op-Ed Writer The Columnist as Op-Ed Writer A columnist’s job may begin as a reporter’s job, but it goes beyond it. A columnist needs to discover the meaning in the events. Like an editorial or op-ed writer, a columnist may criticize and suggest solutions, advocate, appreciate and point out when an incident is becoming a trend. He needs to be master of the op-ed form because columns are also opinion pieces. Like op-eds, they include facts, interviews, anecdotes, or characters and confl icts that illuminate the point the columnist wants to make or the insight the columnist wants to share. In a column, characters or events often fi gure more prominently than in an op-ed. Like the op-ed writer, the columnist needs to be able to identify the point for instance, “The point of this column is that mentally ill people love and are loved, even if they cannot function in families.” That sentence will probably not appear in the column, but the columnist needs to be able to tell an editor or responder what the point is. The copy editor who creates the headline should be able to recognize this point. The copy editor may even use it as the headline. For instance, in Cabrera’s story the headline says what the column shows. Brewing: Latinos are the most targeted by the beer industry. How much are we missing because we’re too drunk to remember it? The Columnist as Storyteller Columnists report real settings, such as the hot August streets of Santa Ana, California. They portray real people—columnists never create events or characters, but they portray them as deftly as any short story writer and in just as few words. Cabrera begins her column by describing the beer company’s advertising campaign, which is aimed at Latinos. The lead is I don’t know his name, but he’s brown-skinned like me. I don’t know who he is, but he tells me in that voice—that played out, pachuco-style East L.A. drawl—that beer is part of our lives. Our lives being Latino. The beer being Miller. “People talk with friends over this beer. They spend time with family over this beer,” the man says into the camera and directly into my living room via the only connection we have: my television. Columnists sketch real confl icts. Cabrera reports on an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Anaheim. ... when a Mexican father told the group that even after 3 1/2 years of being sober it was hard to win back his family. ”My 18-year-old still rejects me. I hurt her the most,” he said.