Timber. Local weather. Dams. Parker. Fish. Airports. Alternative. Extra fish.
These are the matters that weigh most closely on readers’ minds, in keeping with the submissions pouring into the oped@seattletimes.com electronic 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 flawed – if writers are scorching on these matters, it most likely means many readers are too. An outdated journalistic adage advises that every one who writes a letter represents about 30 individuals who really feel the identical manner. This metric is many years outdated and pre-personal computing, so each letter or opinion submitted in 2023 doubtless represents hundreds of individuals.
As a mainstay of op-eds or visitor essays in The Seattle Occasions, I welcome all these timber, 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 matters, 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 Occasions’ 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, stage 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 change into. It is good the way it works.
So what makes a bit extra prone to be chosen for publication?
It’ll go to the fitting mailbox. Please embody 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 recordsdata. It is an old school technique, however Phrase paperwork are simply misplaced by Outlook, and PDFs do not play nicely with our content material administration system. You solely stay as soon as, and I do not wish to spend time on this earthly airplane 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 strictly that, one web page. It’s house to an editorial, a syndicated column and an op-ed or visitor essay and at the very least one letter. (Shameless jab: Many regional newspapers now not compile a whole checklist of editorial content material. And lots of of U.S. counties haven’t any newspapers in any respect, depriving readers of the prospect to study their neighbors and share their very own views.) You’ve got obtained items with a great core buried in an eye catching 3,000 phrases; it is inconceivable to trim coherently, even for me, with my practically three many years of machete-wielding enhancing 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 achieved to repair it? Inform the readers – and me – why we should always all care. Preserve 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. After all, some matters are common — human rights, well being care, the fentanyl disaster — and we think about 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 a press release from somebody in Naches, Sumas or Royal Metropolis.
It’s solely 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 tips and provides The Seattle Occasions the fitting 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 ingesting vegans or MAGA morons. Don’t accuse one other individual or group of something. Do not begin out with “I wager you do not wish to print this.” If you’re decided to go flawed, you’re proper. I cannot.
Issues 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 a Drawback: It’s kind of of a hand-wringing publish, however not a lot else. We all know local weather change is unhealthy, 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 creator biography if in case you have a monetary connection to the topic. It does not routinely make you lowered; typically, for instance, if a legislation solely impacts enterprise individuals, it is sensible for somebody in that business to make a press release. Nonetheless, we’ll give it a more in-depth look to make sure that it’s a present subject and never simply confused with a manner of drumming up enterprise. In different phrases, does the subject material and experience outweigh the monetary tie-in?
An article that can not be trimmed or altered in any manner; in different phrases, each phrase is a gem: If I make important modifications to your assertion, I’ll ship you a draft to assessment for accuracy. You possibly can disagree with the modifications and we are able to focus on; you’re free to retract your assertion and go house in case you discover modifications too drastic. Additionally, you have to not resubmit new drafts after I’ve despatched you affirmation of my intention to publish. If 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 prospect of an incomplete model being revealed.
An entire set of tips is offered at seattletimes.com/opinion.