How to Write an Op-Ed

Op-eds are part of a longstanding tradition which has survived the transition from print to screen.  Most publications today welcome op-ed pieces. 

Succinct, timely, and well-written opinion articles are published daily in print and online media.  Many publications have their own “Op-Ed Page” dedicated to sharing these third-party views with readership.  

Op-Ed is Not a Letter to the Editor

Op-eds are more than the more informal “letter to the editor.”  Letters to the Editor deal with content published by the publication.  The letter may agree with something published recently, or it may provide additional information that was not covered in the piece.  Often, Letters to the Editor voice displeasure or disagreement with something previously published by the newspaper, magazine, or site. 

Letters to the Editor are short.  They deal with recent stories (something published days or a week or two beforehand). 

It’s fine to write Letters to the Editor.  They’re like comments to a noted blog like Grits for Breakfast.  However, if you have more than a paragraph or two, then you may want to consider submitting an op-ed. 

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Basics of an Op-Ed

The term “op-ed” is short for “opposite the editorial page.”  It’s a bigger, more complex piece than a letter to the editor. Unlike a letter to the editor, the op-ed may or may not come from a subscriber or dedicated reader of the publication.

Op-eds are longer than letters to the editor, but they are still succinct.  An op-ed will run between 400 -1200 words, depending upon the publication.

It will deal with recent news topics or current events.  These will be areas of concern to the publication’s readership.  A beautifully written op-ed dealing with hurricane relief may not be published in the Chicago Tribune, but it might be most welcome at the Miami Herald. 

The author will have a level of expertise on the subject matter.    It’s true that op-eds help to build the reputation of the author as an “influencer” or “thought-leader,” but it’s also true that most publications want op-eds from those who already have a level of expertise in the subject matter. 

Lawyers practicing in criminal law may write about pending cases dealing with issues before the Supreme Court like capital punishment or search and seizure protections.  Doctors practicing in rural areas may write on the impact of federal funding on health care or how to fight the growing lack of physicians outside urban centers.  You get the idea.

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Should You Write an Op-Ed?

An op-ed can be powerful.  It’s possible for your article to reach millions of readers, influencing or educating their perspective on the issue.  It’s tool for good.

It’s possible that you will benefit from increased name recognition, as well.  If you have a public relations or marketing consultant, then they probably love the idea of op-ed submissions to increase your exposure and visibility in your area of expertise.  

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Tips for Writing Op-Eds

If you decide to write an opinion article, then consider the following tips:

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1. Check the Guidelines

Publications have requirements for op-ed articles.  Follow them.  Here are some examples of publication guidelines for Op-Eds:

New York Times

USA Today

Wall Street Journal

Washington Post

Texas Tribune

Chicago Tribune

Miami Herald

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2.  Focus on a Single Argument

Limit your piece to a single argument.  There simply isn’t the word count for more than one point to be made.

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3.  The Rule of Three

Remember the sage advice of your high school English teacher:  tell them what you will say, say it, then tell them what you said.  The op-ed isn’t the place for beautiful descriptions of a pleasant memory from your childhood to set the tone for the piece.  Get to the argument from the get-go.  

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4.  Help the Reader

Consider your reader.  What’s here for them, do you have solutions to the problem after you’ve identified it?  You can’t just argue your position; you need to include recommendations on how to fix things.  Examples are great. 

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5.  Write to the Reading Level of the Publication

Consider the reading level of the publication.  Use free software like Hemingway if necessary.

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The Power and Purpose of Citizen Journalists: The Baltimore SWAT Standoff and the Belize Mystery Surrounding John McAfee as Two Examples of Why We Need Citizen Journalists

Citizen journalism may not be respected by traditionally educated and trained journalists, but citizen journalists sure seem to be making lots of headway in reporting news via the web.

I've been watching and reading citizen journalism for awhile now, with growing respect.  Why?  Well, because some people are doing this at the risk of their lives - like citizen journalist Rami Ahmad Al-Sayed who died when he was only 27 years old, leaving behind a wife and young daughter, in order to spread the word over the internet about the military assault he was witnessing first hand in Homs, Syria.

Critics snub the idea of citizen journalists for various reasons:  first, their work does not reach the same level of quality as the professional journalist.  They are amateurs.   Second, citizen journalists cannot be trusted to be objective.  They are biased.  Third, citizen journalists aren't regulated - they have no set of rules or ethical codes imposed upon them as do members of the main stream media.  They are rogues.  

I understand that professionals who have studied in their field for years and thereafter dedicated years of their lives to journalism as a career path aren't too happy with these interlopers.  As an attorney who has seen the practice of law change to allow non-lawyers to practice law in some ways, I get it.

However, when it comes to citizen journalists, I don't care.

I don't trust the main stream media (MSM) much these days -- for one thing, the same finger pointing that is made against citizen journalists has been made much too often against members of the Fourth Estate in recent years for me to blindly trust today's news media.

What?  If you want to delve more into the sad failures of modern, professional journalism then I suggest you check out Joseph Campbell's 2010 book, Getting It Wrong: Ten of the Greatest Misreported Stories in American Journalism - which you can read for free at Google Books (at least you could when I typed this).  Or read the witty column in today's Gawker by Hamilton Nolan, "Mainstream Media Attack Dogs Think We're Asking Too Many Questions About Orange Pie."  It pretty much sums things up.

There's room in my world for both types of journalism, and maybe that's how things should be.  Here are two examples of citizen journalists blogging online that I've been following this week.

The Baltimore SWAT Standoff Blogger

Frank James MacArthur considers himself to be a citizen journalist when he isn't driving a cab up in Baltimore and he writes a blog called "The Baltimore Spectator."  Recently, after MacArthur didn't show in court for a violation of probation hearing on an old weapons charge, the police showed up at his house to issue a warrant.

MacArthur didn't cooperate, and it turned into a five hour standoff.  SWAT was called, but things ended peacefully at 11 pm which MacArthur stated that he intended to coordinate with the evening television news.

Now, sure, MacArthur may have done some of this in order to spotlight his citizen journalist site.  However, MacArthur also had a serious distrust of local law enforcement and chronicled the events as they transpired on the web for what he viewed as his own self-protection.

Belize Murder Investigation and The Mysterious John McAfee

Meanwhile, for a few weeks now the founder of a popular computer security software company, John McAfee, remains at large even though there were reports earlier today that he had been arrested at the Belize-Mexico border.  John McAfee has been blogging his story on the internet as he remains out of the hands of Belize police who are seeking custody of Mr. McAfee as a person of interest in the murder of McAfee's next-door neighbor.  McAfee's blog is "Who is McAfee?"

John McAfee is blogging about his successes in evading capture by the local authorities as well as his concerns that if he is taken by Belize police he will be harmed or killed - and this continuing story is making national news basically because of McAfee's own reporting of events thus far.

Belize police officials are calling McAfee "paranoid."  John McAfee's blog posts, however, don't seem to be the rambling, irrational posts of someone who is mentally ill.  His position is that he believed that if he had peacefully cooperated with police at the get-go, he might be killed.

I believe that blogging is important, but never more so than in situations like this, where individual citizens are sharing their stories - as they happen - with the public at large.  Maybe they aren't the most objective reports; maybe they aren't written as well as they could be; and maybe there's no set of rules or guidelines applicable to their work.

However, in both of these blogging stories by citizen journalists, you have first-hand accounts of what local law enforcement is doing, or not doing, together with the interpretation of those events by the suspect of that police power action. 

I want to read this.  I think lots of people do. I think we need the citizen journalist and I hope that citizen journalism becomes more respected, and protected, over time.    

Citizen journalists blogging on the internet (and I include micro-blogging at Twitter) bring information  to the reader that professional journalists don't provide.  Perhaps they can't provide it, I'll have to ponder that one.

As for the expansion of the police power through technological advances, and how privacy rights are endangered today and Big Brother scenarios are rapidly becoming reality, I'll write about that on my opinion blog soon enough.

Christian Science Monitor Going Web-Only

The Christian Science Monitor announced today that it's going to stop printing its newspaper on a daily basis, opting for an online format -- although it's transitioning by keeping a once-a-week paper version in circulation.

Good news for trees. Good news for webwriters, too. (Writing for the web is a different ballgame than writing for print, if you want your work to show up in the search engines and actually get found, and read, by folk.)

Writer Lawyer Tip: Web vs Print - A Must Read Article for Writers

This jewel of an article, written by Paul Gillin and entitled, "How the Coming Newspaper Industry Collapse Will Reinvigorate Journalism," is something that is worth dropping what you are doing, right now, to read the darn thing. Twice.