Editorial of May 7, 2026
Your Newspaper: a Primer
A colleague recently suggested—after a bit of a brouhaha about opinion pieces versus reporting—that we might consider penning an editorial explaining where our content comes from and how it is positioned in “The Freeman’s Journal,” “Hometown Oneonta” and on our website AllOtsego.com.
On page one, you’ll find our top stories of the week. The upper portion of the page is generally devoted to what we consider “hard” news—original reporting on topics such as municipal government, school board meetings, “hot button” local issues, and the like. At the bottom of the page, we usually opt for a feel good human interest story. Pages two and three are for our second wave of stories, alternating between news and features.
Articles with bylines, which identify the author, represent original reporting from our one staff reporter, Eric Santomauro-Stenzel, and our freelance “stable,” which includes a number of talented local reporters as well as SUNY Oneonta students through the SUNY Institute for Local News, who are doing a great job. Pieces without bylines are those gleaned from press releases we receive.
Page four is our editorial page, where the content represents not hard news, but rather opinion. The weekly editorial expresses the views of the Editorial Board and/or is often intended to challenge thinking and to encourage readers to consider viewpoints that differ from their own. Our readers share their own opinions on news and issues of the day in their letters. We also often publish op-ed pieces here, which the Harvard Graduate School of Education describes as “a piece where an author, typically with expertise on a given topic, shares an educated opinion on a current, often controversial or debated issue.” Last week we featured our own “myth busting economist,” Larry Malone.
On page five, readers take a trip back in time with “Bound Volumes” via excerpts from our newspapers going back to the 1800s. Boy, how times have changed! “News from the Noteworthy” is a paid advertorial contributed by the movers and shakers of Otsego County: philanthropic foundations, arts organizations, human services groups, etc. And of course there is that challenging Merl Reagle crossword…
Page six is usually devoted to news briefs, although they move about from time to time, depending on space. These news briefs are, quite frankly, the core of a small, locally-owned newsroom. Each week we receive hundreds of e-mails, letters, and faxes from both near and far, covering everything from upcoming exhibits, plant sales, fundraisers, lectures, concerts, blood drives, breakfast at the historical society, sports scores, promotions, dean’s list honors—you name it. It’s here that our readers will also find regional tidbits such as grant opportunities, recently-released studies, updates on state programs, and more.
From there, the placement of news is less structured. Sometimes original reporting, sometimes well-written press releases and our regular columns, including “Life Sketches” by Terry Berkson, “Hawthorn Hill Journal” by Richard deRosa, “On Stage” by Rachel Frick Cardelle, and “Citizen Science,” next week introducing author Trisha Muro. Or sometimes a provocative op-ed piece, several of which caused the aforementioned brouhaha.
And, occasionally, readers will come across a “Partial Observer” column. The “Partial Observer” header indicates exactly that—the author is partial in some way to the subject about which they are writing. They may be writing about an organization of which they are a member, or an event in which they participated; a topic of which they are fond, or partial to, or with a clear preference toward one person or side.
It is important here to point out that the views expressed by contributors in columns, guest editorials, and op-ed pieces are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of AllOtsego and its affiliates. These are not to be confused with our original reporting, which remains fact-based and unbiased, the way it should be. We simply endeavor to give voice to multiple perspectives because, let’s face it, we do not all share the same opinions, and dissenting voices deserve to be heard.
For those of you who may skip over the legal notices, we suggest you might want to take a closer look. Yes, a lot of these are legally required when forming a limited liability company. But there is news here as well—notices of public hearings on things that impact our communities, notices of election, notices of school budget votes and tax foreclosures.
At the back of the paper, readers will find continuations of articles. (Except last week, where the “jump” from our top story was missing. That article is printed in its entirety on page seven of this week’s editions.) And the back page is always a sampling from our online calendar. We print as many entries as we can in the available space, but the calendar on AllOtsego.com is far more comprehensive and includes events and activities of interest in the surrounding region as well as here in Otsego County.
Putting together a weekly newspaper is often not an easy task with just our small staff of four, and we face many challenges, including limited space. That’s where AllOtsego.com comes in. It is the home of all content from “The Freeman’s Journal” and “Hometown Oneonta,” and of additional original reporting and local news each week.
Subscribers to our hard-copy newspapers can access AllOtsego.com at no charge as part of their subscription; those who prefer to read their news online can currently subscribe to the website at a special rate celebrating America250—see the subscription ad on page 16.
So that’s us in a nutshell. Original, unbiased reporting; community news; engaging columns; and sometimes infuriating op-ed pieces. Thanks for reading, thanks for sharing your information and announcements, and thanks for helping us put the community back into the newspaper.
