For a journalist, Can you voice you opinion or only state facts?

Sean, The line is not as clear cut on this as it once was. Most mainstream reporters keep their own opinions out of their work, which doesn't mean they don't write with authority or employ analysis.There are also opinion journalists -- columnists like Steve Lopez of my newspaper, bloggers, and others -- who do nothing but express opinions. But that is not usually a job for a recent college graduate -- usually people need to live a little before their opinions are worth reading. In recent years a hybrid model has become more common-- journalists who do reporting but include their deeply-felt opinions in their work. Glenn Greenwald is an example of that. I would say that as the media landscape becomes more polarized, there is more opportunity to combine fact gathering with opinion. I'm not sure that's a good thing, and it comes with a price -- your audience is smaller than it might have been. But it's certainly becoming more of a reality.

You begin by stating only facts and opinions are of other people that you talk to. You don't give your opinion. The only opinion pieces are written by the editor who does the column. People who write columns give their opinions which are backed by facts. But one gets to write opinion pieces after years of doing straight reporting which is based on facts.