Playground of the pundits or voice of the people? comparing British and Danish opinion pages1

Abstract

This paper compares the models for the opinion pages in Danish and British quality newspapers. It examines op‐ed and editorial pages in the three largest‐circulation Danish dailies and in the British papers The Guardian, Daily Telegraph and The Times, during a randomly selected two‐week period in the autumn of 2002. The paper also draws on interviews with key personnel at the six papers. Danish and British models for the opinion pages differ in one fundamental way: the British papers draw on regular columnists for their opinion pieces, while their Danish counterparts are made up entirely by unsolicited contributions from members of the public. The paper argues that British newspapers have a top‐down and professionalised vision of public debate in mind, whereas the Danish model seeks to include a wider variety of voices and experiences. Nevertheless, both ways of organising the opinion pages ultimately privilege the voices of the powerful and articulate few.

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