by Tony Norman, NSNC President This is the second of two interviews with NSNC members who began as columnists, but now find themselves balancing their personal voices with the responsibility of keeping a balanced opinion page at their respective publications. Last month, Bonnie Jean Feldkamp, the Opinion Editor of The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky talked…
By Dave Lieber Dallas Morning News columnist First, I write the column. This is about what’s next. Did Breslin do this? * I write the headline. If I fail on this and nobody likes my headline, all the work I did for a 900-word column goes to the crapper. I know this from…
By Dave Lieber Dallas Morning News columnist Now for the first time, I really feel it. I can touch it. It’s happening all around. The death of a competent, successful free press. The spiral downward for newspapers and TV news. We are going down and going down fast. It’s a combination: the smartphone, our own…
President’s Message By Lisa Smith Molinari President National Society of Newspaper Columnists You open the mailbox, and there it is. The envelope is so thin, it seems almost empty. But you know exactly what’s inside. You run a fingernail under the sealed edge, pinch the contents with thumb and forefinger, and hold the precious instrument…
Columnists Talk Shop By Bonnie Jean Feldkamp Director of Media We’re talking to columnists about what it means to be an opinion writer in today’s market. This is the first article in the series. No matter which political camp you stood in this past year you were bound to take a hit on your stance.…
Manchester, NH — Manchester will see an influx of columnists from all over the country (staff, freelance, syndicated, self-syndicated, independent, and bloggers), June 8-11, 2017. The National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC) announces Manchester, New Hampshire, as the site of its 2017 annual conference. The Radisson Hotel in downtown Manchester is eager to host.…
By Lisa Smith Molinari President National Society of Newspaper Columnists Ever had one of those days when everything just falls into place? Yeah, me neither. The ever-increasing demands of the 21st Century have made time management more difficult for everyone, including columnists. Columnists no longer sit quietly in the air-conditioned comfort of their newspaper offices,…
President’s Message By Jerry Zezima President National Society of Newspaper Columnists During his 30-year reign as the king of late-night TV, “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson assumed the role of many characters in skits performed with sidekick Ed McMahon. One of his most popular was Carnac the Magnificent, the turbaned wise guy who would divine…
By Mike Deupree NSNC Contest Chair You know that terrible feeling of impending doom, the barely suppressed panic, the sweaty palms, the sleepless nights, when you haven’t yet met a deadline? Well, for heaven’s sake, why go through that when all you have to do to avoid it is get your entries submitted for the…
When you stay in one job for a quarter century as Comic (and Column) Confessional author Dave Astor did, it helps to have good reasons for doing so. Here are a few: Heloise, Arianna Huffington, Ann Landers, Abigail Van Buren, David Broder, Ellen Goodman, George Will, Erma Bombeck, Dave Barry, Art Buchwald, Walter Cronkite, Hillary…
NSNC Member Susan Young has a new column of being published monthly in The Hometown News, Volusia County, FL. It’s a monthly insert called “Forever Young” – aimed at Baby Boomers. Susan’s column is called “Life in the Middle” and is about the Sandwich Generation in which we live these days. Here’s the link… Scroll down and…
Larry Cohen It was the author G.K. Chesterton who explained that “journalism largely consists in saying ‘Lord Jones is Dead’ to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive.” I chose to assume that Chesterton was writing about the “news” side of the business. Much of the columnist business is devoted to explaining…
By Dave Lieber Fort Worth Star-Telegram Columnist www.YankeeCowboy.com I’m celebrating 20 years of NSNC membership. I got what I put into it. Great friends, more learning about column writing than anywhere else combined, an actual columnist job (hired while attending my first conference, no less), a lengthy career of growth and improvement, and, yes, worth…
You, the Columnist By Dave Lieber Fort Worth Star-Telegram Columnist www.YankeeCowboy.com Years ago, in this space, I wrote a piece wondering what the 21st century columnist would be like. Of course, I got it wrong. I didn’t understand how social media, not yet invented, would change what we do. I didn’t realize that the 21st…
Luellen Smiley, NSNC member in Santa Fe, New Mexico, writes that her columns have turned into a dream: “During the last two years I have converted my Growing up with Gangster columns into a feature length script that is in the Hollywood pipeline. I continue to write Smiley’s Dice as a monthly blog, while seeking…
Wait, don’t leave! You are in the right place! The NSNC board decided that it was time for a newer website, something more in keeping with the times, something trendy and dynamic, to attract the attention of young potential members and to meet the changing needs of current members. We wanted to do things that…
How do you as a columnist approach the craft of writing? Do you try to get people to think, maybe from a different point of view? Are you the antagonist who writes to let people disagree? Do you try to present useful information in a humorous way? Do you try to tell about something uplifting…
