When Clay Wirestone began his role as opinion editor for the Kansas Reflector in 2022, he came to a startling realization: There weren’t many Kansans in his line of work anymore.
There was no shortage of people sharing their opinions, on Substack, Facebook and other social media. The Kansas City Star Editorial Board, based in Missouri, sometimes weighed in on Kansas issues.
But full-time employed opinion columnists, writing about Kansas from Kansas? That number had dwindled to only a few. The number of newspapers in Kansas, like across the nation, has declined, and major newspapers have moved away from opinion at large, citing economic pressures and changing news values.
Wirestone was shocked. Kansas, he says, has a rich history of opinion writers, including legends like William Allen White, a renowned columnist after whom the journalism school at the University of Kansas is named.
In his forthcoming book, “Opinionated: Kansas Journalists Who Proved Why Commentary Matters Then and Now,” Wirestone highlights a variety of 20th century writers who mused about their Kansas towns and shaped discourse in the state. The stories of White and others also capture Wirestone’s belief that well-researched public commentary is critical to helping a society understand itself.
News is about laying out the facts, but opinion writing, Wirestone says, “is really about like, how do we narrate that? How do we tell that story to ourselves, and just engaging people in that conversation, regardless of what side you're on.”
“Opinionated” will go on sale in September.
- Clay Wirestone, Kansas Reflector opinion editor
