• by March 12, 2020

The Philadelphia Inquirer this week redesigned its print edition to help readers see the difference between news and opinion articles. Erica Palan, deputy editor of opinion at the newspaper, announced the changesin a series of tweets.

It's surprising the Inquirer had to take steps to clarify the distinction between news and opinion, but we live in the Age of Misinformation, propagated by social media and search engines. People don't know what to believe anymore.

The Inquirer added a glossary to its op-ed page that explains the difference among editorials, op-eds and columns. The newspaper also is labeling those items, along with its "Letters to the Editor" section.

As part of the redesign, the Inquirerwon't run op-eds on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Instead, it will save them for an expanded opinion section in its Sunday edition, Palan said.

"We're making our Sunday editorial bigger and deeper — with the goal of having a stronger impact on the region," she said.

Sunday editions still get the most attention for newspapers, even if they have seen declines as readers shift their news consumption to digital platforms. The estimated total U.S. circulation for newspapers was 30.8 million in 2018, compared with 28.6 million for daily editions, according to Alliance for Audited Media data cited by Pew Research Center.