Some traditions go through the ages, but adapt to the times. For example, that of a political editorial preceding an election, as well as The duty has been doing it since its very first steps, at the beginning of the 20th century. It does it again in Saturday’s edition, as decided by the editorial team led by director Brian Myles.
The Anglo-Saxon tradition of the “editorial”, as journalistic jargon would have it, is still very present. In some media, the editorial is unsigned, as a perfect reflection of a group position. At To have toeach of us signs his writings, but every morning we discuss the subjects of the day as a team and together determine the common position.
Of course, times have changed. The era of the editorial of the combat newspaper is behind us, but it still seems relevant in 2022, for editorial writers who have spoken out for four years on all the minor and major issues related to the electoral campaign, to take the word on the appointed day.
Like all directors — and one director — of the To have to before him, Mr. Myles therefore takes a position in a text that should not be seen as a directive and a procedure to follow, but rather as an element intended to nourish reflection. Through this editorial, we defend the values of To have tothis “honest, rigorous, lucid and incisive observer of social debate, with an inclination for the ideals of social justice”, as the director defined him in one of his founding editorials in 2016.
The editorial, however, engages only the editorial team (the editorialists, the editor-in-chief and the director of the newspaper). It is entirely detached from its editorial staff, whose journalistic work is carried out in complete independence and seeks objectivity. Columnists, meanwhile, also have freedom of expression and thought that allows them to write and evolve completely outside the editorial “line”. These three genres therefore coexist in our writings, but are very distinct from each other. We value this independence within our independent media.
The duty has always attached great importance to politics, and therefore an election campaign is one of the highlights of our journalistic activity. Journalists were dispatched on the buses of the five parties — we chose to follow them three weeks out of five, but followed all of their activities the other two weeks from Montreal.
We also invited the leaders of the five main parties to a meeting with the editorial team, as is another tradition that we cherish. They all lent themselves to this game.