Samuel Tong

Palo Alto High School’s The Campanile Editor-in-Chief Lucas Yuan lectures about the final stage of editing for his editorial about teacher wages. He worked throughout the cycle, conducting research and evaluating contrasting points of view for this topic.

PALO ALTO, Calif. – The Campanile Editor Team presented on the editorial writing process at the annual Journalism Education Association NorCal Media Day on Saturday. The presentation covered the importance of maintaining editorial quality and publication reliability.

The presenters, senior Editors-in-Chief Julian Hong, Kate Xia, Holden Lee, Alec Bonnard and Lucas Yuan each addressed steps in the opinion writing process ranging from pitching for the editorial to group discussions and staff reviews.

“It is a privilege to write these editorials. I understand the impact our staff’s voice can have on the community,” Lucas said. “It is something I keep in mind whenever I put words on the paper.”

Starting the session, Holden spoke on the editorial’s purpose — the editorial board must convey their point of view on a controversial or popular issue. He emphasized The Campanile’s editorial structure: propose a statement, choose a position, provide evidence, make a concession and conclude. 

On finalizing the topic for each editorial, Lucas discussed The Campanile’s process for voting. All staff members participate in a blind vote in which they advocate for their preferred editorial topic. 

“The most important part of being on the editorial team is the fact that our editorials represent the perspectives of the entire staff,” Lucas said. “For example, our discussions, our selection of the topics and our final staff edits are all from the staff and this allows for a more holistic approach.”

Once one editor finishes writing the editorial, the article goes through rounds of group staff edits to uphold equality and incorporate the intricacies of the situation. 

Finishing the session, editors then hosted an interactive activity with all attendees being able to pitch and vote on ideas for an editorial. After deciding on the topic of California governor Gavin Newsom’s phone policy, attendees discussed potential stances for the editorial.

Lynbrook High School Opinions Editor David Zu (11) found the session to be extremely informative and wants to apply what he learned to his school’s newspaper. 

“This session helped me develop a better understanding of how to write an editorial effectively,” David said. “It’s especially important for opinion editors as well as people who are interested in opinion to know how to write an editorial so that they convey the voice of their staff: that’s just been a really crucial part of this.”