A political columnist, more than anything else, expresses his own viewpoint on local, regional, national, or international issues. His column can be paid or unpaid, and it can be published on a regular or semi-regular basis in a newspaper, magazine, or on the Internet. The topic of the column can be narrowed down to a specific issue or it can be broad. Whatever the subject, the political columnist usually takes a strong stance and tries to persuade others to agree with him.
A political columnist and a political reporter are not the same thing. The latter seeks out facts, reports them as news, and is supposed to present them to the public as objectively as possible. A political columnist may gather facts as well, but there is no pretense of objectivity or neutrality. Political columnists usually have an agenda and follow one of two paths: good or bad, right or wrong, or black and white. In a columnist’s mind or style, there are few gray areas.
Many people who comment on politics hold a strong belief in a particular ideology and try to fit their arguments into a pre-determined philosophical perspective. It’s no surprise that readers either love or hate columnists who specialize in politics. If readers’ mail begins to run strongly against them, these writers are frequently fired from their jobs or have their columns withdrawn by editors and publishers. A political columnist may have been hired with the express purpose of stirring up controversy, gaining a following, and increasing readership, but failure to achieve that goal is a common reason for dismissal.
The irony of establishing a successful political column is that if a columnist receives too much reader response, he can easily lose his job. Realizing that advertising is the lifeblood of their business, editors and publishers become concerned when a political columnist generates an excessive amount of negative mail or phone calls. If some of this mail comes from advertising clients, the columnist’s days are numbered. He will almost never receive a warning or notification from his superiors, and he may simply wake up to find his column has been removed from a publication.
A political columnist must have a thick skin because he or she interacts with the public frequently, usually by phone or email. Readers will occasionally congratulate or praise him, but those who disagree with a columnist’s writings and opinions are rarely heard. Those who are offended by a columnist’s views and positions will be quick to respond, and their complaints are frequently loud, rude, and insulting. Such negative contact will be viewed as a sign that a political columnist is doing his job by an experienced political columnist. Many columnists believe that the primary goal of their profession is to get people to think.