OPINION WRITING IN MODERN-DAY ERA

By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

THE late Teodoro Valencia, an apologist of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, once wrote in his daily column in the martial law Daily Express newspaper that it was easy to write opinion pieces. He was correct.

During the martial law era (1972-1986), Marcos allowed only three newspapers to exist. Ka Doroy, as he was intimately called during those days, had captive readers, who has to endure his bellyaching ways because his daily column was one of the very few they could read.

Had Valencia lived to this day, he would not probably say the same thing. The restoration of democracy and the subsequent reopening of the democratic space here have led to the proliferation of many dailies, which keep on competing in the proverbial marketplace of ideas.

The same thing has happened in broadcast media. Dime a dozen radio and TV commentators have appeared, providing nuggets of opinion as if they have the divine right to pontificate and legislate on which is right and appropriate for the people.

There is an excessive pomp and weirdness in the various ways they express their views.

The nontraditional media has led to the introduction of social media, a new communications platform allowing every netizen to express his views, while he ingest news and other info on a 24/7 cycle. Social media has empowered the netizens, making them a caste of opinion leaders in their own right.

A thousand flowers have bloomed and blossomed as a result of the restoration of the freedom of expression and press freedom since 1986, the year the EDSA People Power Revolution happened and toppled he Marcos dictatorship. But it is equally important to distinguish the weeds from the flowers and pluck them out as well.

In these days of social media, where everybody could be an opinion writer, it is important to distinguish the quality of sustainable opinions.

While it is indeed easy to write an opinion article, the point is that it is not easy to write and provide opinion pieces that are worth reading or hearing.

Also, it is not easy to sustain a readable opinion column. In the current democratic structure, opinion writers are too many. But opinion writers, who are worth reading, are definitely few and difficult to find.

In a rambunctious political culture like ours, it is common to see people, who pretend to be opinion writers in traditional and nontraditional media, including social media.

It is the task of every reader and netizen to discern the pretenders from the genuine.

While one is free to express his opinion in a free country like ours, it is not easy to find opinions that could be regarded as illuminating, enlightening, or even refreshing to a hungry intellect.

As every student of opinion writing says, a reader may read an opinion writer on the first day he sees him on the pages of a newspaper. But he won’t read him the next day, if he finds him boring and obnoxious.

The same thing happens to an equally obnoxious but opinionated netizen in social media.

Opinion writing belongs to the beyond the news genre. Opinions usually follow published or aired news. While it constitutes the reaction to published or aired news, an opinion is basically an evaluation, assessment, interpretation, analysis, critique, or whatever of a given news or issue.

Opinion writers and commentators, whether in traditional or social media, lead in molding public opinion on certain issues. But it is wrong to conclude that their opinions constitute public opinion. What they write are their personal opinions, which are hardly representative of public opinion.

Public opinion is composed of many voices flowing in a single stream. It could be the personal voices of ordinary citizens, or the collective opinions of community and political leaders. Or it could also be the voices coming from various sectors and institutions – the Church, Congress, judiciary, civil society, labor, youth, peasant, among others.

Please don't forget social media. The opinions expressed in social networking sites like Facebook, Twitters, Instagram, among others, also constitute public opinion.

When all these voices flow in a single stream, we see the creation of public opinion. It has its own dynamics. The varying voices could cascade into a single stream to mold public opinions.

Gauging the formation of public opinion is a matter of gut feel. It does not have a complete science, although it could be discerned by the numerous voices coming out from various people, sectors, and institutions on a given issue at a given time.

Competent opinion writers and netizens become opinion leaders in their own right as they guide the public in molding public opinion through their opinion pieces.

Readers and netizens could judge competent and qualified opinion writers by the clarity of thought, strength of argument, sense of objectivity, and specific vantage point which they assume as they explain the burning issues of the day.

Competent opinion writers and opinionated netizens comment on events that have happened or about to happen. They don’t write on something hypothetical or speculative in nature. In short, they do not dignify speculations nor treat them as real.

Also, they do not pretend to be knowledgeable about certain issues. While they could be maverick in their views, cold and hard boiled in presenting issues, or passionate in advancing their advocacy, they are humble on issues they hardly know.

In short, competent opinion writers are rare. What we see on the horizon are pretenders, or apologists of certain vested interests, who hardly speak with the passion, tone, timbre, and logic of a genuine opinion leader.