Like anything else, 2022’s most popular opinion leads could turn into a listicle ranking of the top 20 editorials, letters, columns and editorials with the most web hits.
By this measure, my colleague Hugh Bailey is the 2022 hitmaker Bad Bunny. He has 4 of his 10 most read songs this year (3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th). Yet even he was humbled by the 1970s rocker. Yes, his 258-word letter, written by a Stanford resident about his 40-year-old Little League coach aka Meet His Loaf, ranked second after the singer’s death.
Meatloaf offers a few tips for anyone thinking of sending a letter or opinion piece. Album of the Year is not given to the longest recording. And readers want to read about where they live.
One of my favorite examples of this has appeared on the 2021 list. That’s when former Norwalk resident Brian O’Neill wrote a letter about returning to his childhood home during COVID and rediscovering his love for his hometown. The letter was only 300 words, and Hearst appeared in only one of his eight daily newspapers in the Connecticut Media Group. Still, it was his fifth read opinion piece of 2021. Two spots above him was native New Yorker Amanda Salzano’s love letter to Stanford. That’s right, many of you seem to have answered “B” to the pop quiz.
For those who stick to the “you only put bad news in the paper” chestnut, there is plenty of evidence that verbal hugs are also welcome, and so are readers. Stay for Love” ranked 17th.
Then there are those who lean towards “C”. You love to see facilities challenged. Stanford is a pop star in his own right, but two of his works with ironic headlines and themes (“Stanford is Cultural Hell…” and “The Mayor of Stanford is MIA on him”) have received quite a few views. acquired a person.
Be careful with threads. local matter. But for years, I’ve been trapped in the “Russian doll” roulette of conversations with contributors trying to pitch regular columns containing reflections on domestic or international affairs.
We occasionally publish articles from experts (no problem with Yale in the hood), but this has never been our first stop (or second, third, or eighteenth) .th) for readers interested in global issues. If an informed local voice gave weight to such an issue, it could resonate. Joanna M. Gwozdziowski, a Stamford resident, worked for a nonprofit focused on foreign affairs and was 16 years old.th-Most read essay “Are we already in World War III?”
Quiz “A” also has a preliminaries. We’re not his TMZ, but when columnist Juan Negroni wrote about Norwalk his boat that caught the attention of Paul Newman and Billy Joel, he earned his No. 8 spot on the list.
Of course, our list doesn’t take print readers into account. It can be a very different audience. I’m still answering emails from my column about how Mel Allen announced Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run. Meanwhile, last month, I lamented that a column I wrote about Eversource cutting down trees seemed to have fallen into an empty forest. Zero feedback from readers. It turned out to be my most read column of the year (at No. 10, he’s two orders of magnitude better than my article on avoiding paying to enter the beach).
In any case, “most popular” is not synonymous with “best”. One of his top 10 highest-grossing flicks of 2022 was ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2,’ and Son made two of his appearances.
In recent years, it has become common for skeptics to sniff out that “nobody reads editorials.” Those numbers didn’t matter to me at all, as I’ve seen cases where reaching just one audience spurred change.
It’s also fake news.
Three of the top 20 hits were editorials, one about an 88-point high school basketball rout, another about state voices ramping up volume against Ticketmaster pricing, and a third. was to deal with soaring utility bills.
This goes back to the lesson from the discreetly hidden list. Opinion readers are drawn to serious issues.
The most read work this year was Ridgefield author Rich Cohen’s essay on the tragic death of St. Luke’s University hockey player Teddy Balkind. Cohen’s writing was as candid as his favorite sport (“No one is completely safe”). Not everyone agreed with Cohen’s insights, but his interest in children unites readers.
The rest of the list is filled with thoughts on important topics that affect our lives. Bailey wrote about affordable housing, struggling malls, and suggested it was time for vacant Bridgeport theaters to face a devastating ball (a developer — one of his audience—read it and offered hope for the show to continue).
Other top stories opine on abortion rights, paid time off, and cancers found after COVID delayed mammograms.
Yes, the correct answer is “E”. And “D” was the trick answer. Nothing about Democrats, Republicans, or anything else.
Thank you for reading, and thank you for proving that there is still a forum for public debate on matters of substance.
John Breunig is editorial page editor for Stamford Advocate and Greenwich Time. jbreunig@scni.com; twitter.com/johnbreunig.
