Timber. Local weather. Dams. Parks. Fish. Airports. Elections. Extra fish.
These are the matters weighing most closely on readers’ minds, in response to the submissions which have been flowing into the oped@seattletimes.com electronic mail inbox. The checklist reads like a type of “say you’re from Washington with out saying you’re from Washington” memes.
Don’t get me flawed — if writers are scorching about these matters, that possible means a variety of readers are, too. An outdated journalism adage advises that each one that writes a letter represents round 30 individuals who really feel the identical manner. That metric is many years outdated and pre-personal laptop, so every letter or opinion submitted in 2023 possible represents hundreds of individuals.
Because the chief wrangler of op-eds, or visitor essays, in The Seattle Occasions, I welcome all these timber, dams, parks and fish. As 2024 looms, I encourage extra of you to share your (nicely thought-out) opinions, scorching takes and distinctive factors of view on not simply these matters, however any others that contribute to a strong, wholesome and, importantly, civil debate in regards to the problems with our time, giant and small.
A part of The Seattle Occasions’ dedication to a free press is curating and publishing a broad vary of concepts and opinions, from a broad vary of individuals. What if it contradicts our editorial board’s said place? Doesn’t matter. That has no bearing on what we select to print. Neither does your age, training degree, faith, ethnicity or whether or not you hail from a metropolis or a farm. I wish to hear from you, and your fellow readers do, too. The extra views we provide each other, the extra we study. The extra concepts we absorb, the extra curious, and empathetic, we change into. It’s good how that works.
So what does make a bit extra more likely to be chosen for publication?
It will get to the suitable mailbox. Sort your op-eds and My Takes within the physique of the e-mail and ship it to: oped@seattletimes.com. Don’t ship Phrase attachments or PDFs. It’s an old style technique, however Phrase docs are simply misplaced by Outlook and PDFs don’t play properly with our content material administration system. You solely dwell as soon as, and I don’t wish to spend time on this earthly aircraft wrestling a PDF to the metaphorical mat.
It sticks to our phrase size. Op-Eds, which run Mondays-Fridays, and My Takes, which run on Saturdays, ought to be 650 phrases, max. Our weekday editorial web page is strictly that, one web page. It’s residence to an editorial, a syndicated column and an op-ed, or visitor essay, and at the very least one letter. (Shameless plug: Many regional newspapers not curate a full slate of editorial content material. And a whole lot of U.S. counties don’t have newspapers in any respect, depriving readers of the possibility to study their neighbors and share their very own factors of view.) I’ve obtained items with kernel buried in an eye-glazing 3,000 phrases; that’s inconceivable to trim in a coherent style, even for me, with my practically three many years of machete-wielding modifying expertise.
It has a powerful level, clearly made. An op-ed, or visitor essay, stands out from information tales since you, the author, take a stand. What’s the problem? What’s at stake? What must be performed to repair it? Inform readers — and me — why all of us ought to care. Hold it centered, acknowledge detractors and maintain it credible with hyperlinks to established sources. I’ve room for eight op-eds per week. The bar is excessive. Inform individuals one thing they might not know. Make your op-ed succinct and make it sing.
It’s of native/regional curiosity by a neighborhood/regional author. We give precedence to Northwest writers who handle points distinctive to our area. After all, some matters are common — human rights, well being care, the fentanyl disaster — and we take into account these, too. Nevertheless, our readers can get opinions about massive nationwide and international points a lot of locations. There aren’t many locations they’ll learn an opinion from somebody in Naches, Sumas or Royal Metropolis.
It’s solely ours. We don’t publish op-eds which have appeared elsewhere, and that features on a web site, social media platform or weblog. That’s unfair to the parents who observe our tips and provides The Seattle Occasions the suitable of first refusal; just like the pythons in Florida, these crowd out native species.
It’s civil in tone. No name-calling or derogatory language towards others allowed. Don’t name individuals moonbats, wing nuts, soy-drinking vegans or MAGA idiots. Don’t accuse one other particular person or group of one thing. Don’t begin out with “I guess you received’t print this.” In case you are decided to get off on the flawed foot, you’re proper. I received’t.
Issues that an op-ed just isn’t:
A petition or open letter: We restrict bylines to not more than three. Letters belong within the Northwest Voices part, whose tips are right here: seattletimes.com/opinion.
An admiration of an issue: That’s a submission that does some hand-wringing however not a lot else. We all know local weather change is dangerous, AI and TikTok might not be good for us, orcas are endangered and housing is unbelievably costly. Now what?
An commercial: Please disclose in your creator bio when you’ve got a monetary tie to the topic. That doesn’t mechanically bench you; typically, for instance, if a regulation impacts solely enterprise individuals, it is smart for somebody in that line of labor to submit an opinion. We are going to give it a more in-depth going-over, nonetheless, to make sure it’s a well timed matter and isn’t simply mistaken for a option to drum up enterprise. In different phrases, does the subject and experience outweigh the monetary tie?
An article that can not be trimmed or altered in any manner; in different phrases, each phrase is a pearl: If I make substantial modifications to your op-ed, I’ll ship you a draft for overview for accuracy. Chances are you’ll disagree with the modifications, and we will focus on; you’re free to withdraw your op-ed and go residence in case you discover modifications too egregious. Additionally, please don’t resubmit new drafts after I’ve despatched you affirmation of my intent to publish. If in case you have a heart-stopping second about one thing that should be modified as a result of it’s inaccurate, let me know; in any other case, a number of submissions merely gum up the works and significantly improve the possibility of an incomplete model being revealed.
A whole set of tips is at seattletimes.com/opinion.
