USA Today Owner Talks Scaling Back Opinion Pieces: Readers ‘Perceive Us as Having a Biased Agenda’

Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and more than 250 other daily print newspapers, reportedly wants to scale back opinion pieces on its pages.

A committee of the company’s top editors cited negative reader feedback and sinking subscriptions as rationale for reimagining editorial sections.

According to the Washington Post, the company is urging those running publications that are part of its vast portfolio to focus more on news. Some have already done so, but more changes are being suggested. The Post reported,

Newspapers owned by Gannett… have begun to radically shrink and reimagine their editorial sections, publishing them on fewer days each week and dropping traditional features such as syndicated columns and editorial cartoons. Even political endorsements and letters to the editor are being scaled back.

The company has been pushing for the cutbacks for years, and they have become increasingly visible to readers since a committee of editors formally recommended them at a meeting in April.

“Readers don’t want us to tell them what to think,” the Gannett committee of editors said during an internal presentation. “They don’t believe we have the expertise to tell anyone what to think on most issues. They perceive us as having a biased agenda.”

The editors added opinion pieces are among the least read content published by Gannett. Simultaneously, they are the most cited reason when subscriptions are cancelled.

While the company recognizes editorial sections are part of traditional models for print publications, the Post reported the company believes they are “repelling” readers.

Subsidiaries have already scaled back some opinion pieces to just a few times a week. More changes are wanted by Gannett’s committee. The Post reported,

Its recommendations include cutting back on “unsigned” editorials that don’t state who wrote them, limiting political endorsements to local races and eliminating syndicated national columns. Gannett has also urged its newspapers to stop publishing letters to the editor online, restricting them to print editions except in rare cases.