I was in a hurry and forgot to say that they differ from real news reporting in the way that porn differs from a real relationship. Of course, the op-ed/opinion columns in traditional news media are also mostly emotional porn; but the point is that opionating is cheap and while doing it well and entertainingly does require some research and planning each day, when you get down to it it's just a performance rather than painstaking and often slow production of factual data.