Bushes. Local weather. Dams. Parker. Fish. Airports. Alternative. Extra fish.
These are the subjects that weigh most closely on readers’ minds, based on the submissions pouring into the oped@seattletimes.com e mail inbox. The checklist reads like a type of “say you are from Washington with out saying you are from Washington” memes.
Do not get me unsuitable – if writers are sizzling on these subjects, it in all probability means many readers are too. An previous journalistic adage advises that every one who writes a letter represents about 30 individuals who really feel the identical approach. This metric is many years previous and pre-personal computing, so each letter or opinion submitted in 2023 doubtless represents 1000’s of individuals.
As a mainstay of op-eds or visitor essays in The Seattle Instances, I welcome all these bushes, dams, parks and fish. As 2024 approaches, I encourage extra of you to share your (well-thought-out) opinions, heat views, and distinctive viewpoints on not simply these subjects, however any others that contribute to a strong, wholesome, and, most significantly, civil debate about problems with our time, large and small.
A part of The Seattle Instances’ dedication to a free press is to curate and publish a variety of concepts and opinions from a variety of individuals. What if it contradicts the acknowledged place of our editors? It doesn’t imply something. It has no bearing on what we select to print. Neither does your age, degree of schooling, faith, ethnicity or whether or not you come from a metropolis or a farm. I wish to hear from you, and so do your fellow readers. The extra views we provide one another, the extra we be taught. The extra concepts we absorb, the extra curious and empathetic we develop into. It is good the way it works.
So what makes a chunk extra more likely to be chosen for publication?
It should go to the appropriate mailbox. Please embrace your feedback and My Takes within the physique of the e-mail and ship it to: oped@seattletimes.com. Don’t ship Phrase attachments or PDF information. It is an old style methodology, however Phrase paperwork are simply misplaced by Outlook, and PDFs do not play properly with our content material administration system. You solely reside as soon as, and I do not wish to spend time on this earthly aircraft smashing a PDF to the metaphorical mat.
It sticks to our phrase size. Op-Eds, which run Monday-Friday, and My Takes, which run on Saturdays, should be 650 phrases, max. Our weekday editorial web page is precisely that, one web page. It’s house to an editorial, a syndicated column and an op-ed or visitor essay and at the least one letter. (Shameless jab: Many regional newspapers now not compile an entire checklist of editorial content material. And a whole lot of U.S. counties don’t have any newspapers in any respect, depriving readers of the possibility to study their neighbors and share their very own views.) You have obtained items with core buried in an attention grabbing 3,000 phrases; it is inconceivable to trim coherently, even for me, with my practically three many years of machete-wielding modifying expertise.
It has a robust level, clearly made. An op-ed or visitor essay stands out from information tales since you, the author, take a stand. What’s the issue? What’s at stake? What must be completed to repair it? Inform the readers – and me – why we must always all care. Hold it targeted, acknowledge critics and hold 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 won’t know. Make your op-ed concise and make it sing.
It’s of native/regional curiosity by a neighborhood/regional author. We prioritize Northwest writers who handle points distinctive to our area. In fact, some subjects are common — human rights, well being care, the fentanyl disaster — and we take into account these, too. Nonetheless, our readers can get opinions on main nationwide and international points in lots of locations. There aren’t many locations the place they will learn an announcement from somebody in Naches, Sumas or Royal Metropolis.
It’s completely ours. We don’t publish opinions which have appeared elsewhere, and that features on a web site, social media platform or weblog. It’s unfair to the individuals who observe our pointers and provides The Seattle Instances the appropriate of first refusal; just like the pythons of Florida, they displace native species.
It’s civil in tone. No names or derogatory language in direction of others allowed. Do not name individuals moonbats, wing nuts, soy consuming vegans or MAGA morons. Don’t accuse one other particular person or group of something. Do not begin out with “I wager you do not wish to print this.” In case you are decided to go unsuitable, you’re proper. I can’t.
Issues an op-ed will not be:
A petition or open letter: We restrict bylines to not more than three. Letters belong within the Northwest Voices part, whose pointers are right here: seattletimes.com/opinion.
An Admiration of a Drawback: It’s kind of of a hand-wringing publish, however not a lot else. We all know local weather change is dangerous, synthetic intelligence and TikTok may not be good for us, killer whales are endangered and housing is extremely costly. What now?
An commercial: Please state in your writer biography you probably have a monetary connection to the topic. It does not routinely make you lowered; generally, for instance, if a regulation solely impacts enterprise individuals, it is sensible for somebody in that trade to make an announcement. Nonetheless, we are going to give it a better look to make sure that it’s a present subject and never simply confused with a approach of drumming up enterprise. In different phrases, does the subject material and experience outweigh the monetary tie-in?
An article that can’t be trimmed or altered in any approach; in different phrases, each phrase is a gem: If I make important adjustments to your assertion, I’ll ship you a draft to evaluation for accuracy. You’ll be able to disagree with the adjustments and we are able to focus on; you’re free to retract your assertion and go house should you discover adjustments too drastic. Additionally, you could not resubmit new drafts after I’ve despatched you affirmation of my intention to publish. In case you have a coronary heart assault about one thing that must be modified as a result of it is inaccurate, let me know; in any other case, a number of submissions will simply chew up the works and vastly improve the possibility of an incomplete model being printed.
An entire set of pointers is on the market at seattletimes.com/opinion.