making your case on editorial pages

8/9/2019 Making Your Case on Editorial Pages

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Making You r Case on Editor ialPages

June 30, 2010


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The Components of Editorial Pages

Editorials

Editor ial cartoons

Letters to the Editor

Colum ns (local or syndicated)

Op-Eds

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First things first

There s no substitute for resear ch.

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W hen should I w rite a

letter to the editor?

Stories

Editor ials and op-eds

Open foru m

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Length/w ord count

Lead sentence

Yo ur m essage

Focus

Be n ice!

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Op-Eds/Guest Editorials

Som eone interesting w ith expertise

in the field/on the topic who has

som ething to say that is relevant and

timely.

This might be you!

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Tips for w riting op-eds

W rite a com pelling lead sentence.

Present a clear and com pelling argument

suppo rted by evidence.

Stick to the w ord count.

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Our man date, as we see it, is straightforwar d: to provide provo cative, thoughtful commen tary that

is reasoned yet opinionated on a wide variety of subjects. The page itself has no ideological bent or

political agenda; we w ant to provide the broadest possible range of opinions from the left, fromthe right and, we hope, from authors whose politics are m uch harder to pigeonhole.

As for o ur su bjects, almost nothing is off-limits. We run articles on dom estic politics, on fore ign

policy, on the great issues and controve rsies of the day in L.A., California and arou nd the wor ld.

We also run perso nal essays and humo r pieces, as well as articles on science and spor ts and

movies and fam ily life. The only unifying characteristic (we hope) is that all our pieces have an

idea behind them an d a point of view, and that they all stimulate some k ind of intellectual

engagemen t with the subject.

We've run pieces on whether fish feel pain, on what it's like to be a baseball fan grow ing up in

Hong Kong, on w hether to engage or ignore North Korea, on Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's trip to

Asia, on the banning of transfats, on the agenda of the ne w L.A. schools super intendent, on sur fing

in Munich, on the legacy of U.N. leader Kofi Ann an, on sever al upcoming ballot initiatives and on

how Gov. Arno ld Schwarzene gger's childhood helped shape his approach to politics.

Our authors include people who have never (or r arely) written a w ord for publication. Others are

better kno wn, and they include novelists, historians, policymakers, hum orists and activists. All

are paid a mode st fee for their contributions.

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Subm issions arrive in two ways: Either w e solicit them or they're sent to us by authors "over the

transom" i.e., unasked. In any given w eek, we receive 300 to 500 unsolicited submissions, most

by e-mail. The vast majority do n ot make it onto the page (an d, although we try to decline thempolitely, we ar e too overwh elmed to respon d personally to every inquiry). In the end, we publish

about 24 pieces each we ek on the Op-Ed and Sunday Opinion pages.

Our pages the daily Op-Ed page and the Current section are put together on the second floor

of the L.A. Times bu ilding by several full-time assigning editors as w ell as research ers, copy

editors and an art director.

People often want to know w hether we see k balance on the page. The answer , as best I can give it,

is this: We want a page that is politically balanced over time not leaning too heavily to the left or

the right but we don 't monitor it day to day, or count Democr ats versus Republicans. Similarly,

we seek diversity of thought and diversity of contributor s we wan t provocative ideas from

people of all races, genders, religions, etc. but again, we don't try to balance the number of

women to men on eve ry single page.

Our job providing provocative, readable and substantive essays seven days a week is

challenging, but it's always engaging, inspiring and, yes, fun . And if we do it right, reading the

pages should also be all of those things challenging, engaging, inspiring and fun .

-- N i c k G o ld b e r g , d e p u t y e d i t o r i a l p a g e e d i t o r , L o s A n g e l e s T i m e s

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Editorials

Editor ial Mem oran da

Editor ial Board Meetings

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Editorials

Tips for w riting an editor ial

memorandum

Presen t a com pelling argum ent suppor ted by

evidence (including data thats n ot you rs)

State the issue, explain w hy it m atters, offer asumm ary of your argum ent, provide support.

No m ore than two pages (one if possible)

Contact inform ation

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Editorials

Setting up editor ial board m eetings

Send a letter/em ail requesting a m eeting

Send and edit m emo

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Editorials

Planning your m eeting

Choose 3 -4 people w ho can pr esent different

perspectives

Plan your presen tations and choose your ro les

PracticeAnticipate qu estions

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Editorials

At the m eeting

Arr ive early

Keep it brief

Bring your materials

Expect a conver sation

Follow u p

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Columnists

Clarence Page

David Br oder

Maureen Dowd

Conn ie Schultz

Ana Veciana Suarez

Casey W oods

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Columnists

Reaching out

Pitching

Editorial m emo randa

Email message

Phone follow up

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Blogs!

Newspaper bloggers

Your o w n blog

Relevant blogs

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Blogs!

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The Health Care BlogEverything you always wanted to know about the Health Care system. But were afraid to ask.


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Toot your own horn

If you place a letter o r o ped,

succeed in getting an editor ial or

having a colum nist or blogger

w rite abou t the issue you ve

pitched, let people know !

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If you want to keep it going

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Conduct outreach several tim es

dur ing the year

Mix it up

Find a variety of spokespeople Use a variety of media

making your case on editorial pages

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