learning-project

 

What is an editorial

Page history last edited by Karlie and Stefan 2 yrs ago

What is an editorial?

 

 

Editorials are in every magazine and newspaper. Whether they are placed in a specific editorial section or hidden in the letters to the editor, opinion essays will always be included in print news.

While this is true, there is little information on teaching children how to write in these genres.     

 

According to Webster's Dictionary an editorial is "an article in a publication expressing the opinion of its publishers or editors."

An easy way to teach editorial writing is to break it down into different components. It has 4 main parts:

- an opinion

- reasons for the opinions

- facts to support the opinions

- Your thoughts/argument

 

 With this task you are to find THREE different opinions, of people who represent the cause. Examples; the general Cairns population, the Queensland tourism sector, the Queensland Government, the Australian Government or some environmental groups that represent the Great Barrier Reef.

 

 

Here is an example of an editorial written for an American Newspaper

Damn the icebergs; full speed ahead

 

 

 

We're not sure what the hors d'oeuvres were on the Titanic on April 14, 1912, but they couldn't have been any fancier than those served at Department of Justice seminars the last couple of years.

The beleaguered Justice Department, even as threats of disaster loomed around it, enjoyed a party atmosphere that their own Inspector General has called into question.

According to The Associated Press, Justice Department training sessions were top of the line in catering.

Checking on just the 10 most expensive sessions held for Justice employees in the past two years, the audit found the department spent nearly $7 million.

"This included," said the AP, "paying $4 per meatball at one lavish dinner and spreading an average of $25 worth of snacks around to each participant at a movie-themed party."

Cookies and brownies for 1,542 who attended a conference in August 2005 cost $13,000.

That's $8.43 worth of cookies apiece.

You picked up the tab.

Oh, and that's not all you picked up.

The report, says AP, found that three-quarters of the employees who attended the conferences demanded daily reimbursement for the cost of meals while traveling -- "effectively double-dipping into government funds."

A July 2006 session served butterfly shrimp, coconut lobster skewers and Swedish meatballs at a conference at a cost of more than $60,000.

In what is either coincidence or just desserts, the leader of the department responsible for overseeing 6 of the 10 costliest training sessions announced her departure the same week the report came out.

The Justice Department's own website said, "Regina B. Schofield, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, has announced her resignation...."

She had been in the job since March of 2005.

She got a nice send-off from her boss.

"Regina B. Schofield has served the Department of Justice and the American people with distinction and honor," said Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. "Ms. Schofield made significant contributions to public safety and criminal justice during her tenure."

It sounds like the public made some significant contributions of their own during that tenure.

Interestingly, while the Department of Justice website goes on at length about Schofield's departure, it makes no mention -- none -- of the Inspector General's report that was ordered by Congress.

There is, of course, a well-established protocol among many federal government websites that tout their eagerness to "communicate with the public."

The public is unlikely to categorize such happy talk as communication, however.

And the Justice Department illustrates the truth that with bureaucratic extravaganzas, as with ships, sometimes everybody suddenly gets out of the partying mood.

 
 

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