The New York Times, Section 4, page 11

Op-Ed Contributor: And Now a Word From Op-Ed

February 1, 2004

By DAVID SHIPLEY

Here at the Op-Ed page, there are certain questions that

are as constant as the seasons. How does one get published?

Who chooses the articles? Does The Times have an agenda?

And, of course, why was my submission rejected? Now that

I've been Op-Ed editor for a year, let me try to offer a

few answers. But a little history first.

The inaugural Op-Ed page appeared on Sept. 21, 1970. It was

named for its geography - opposite the editorial page - not

because opinions would be expressed in its columns. A page

of clashing opinions, however, was the aim from the

beginning. According to an editorial introducing the page,

Op-Ed was created to provide a forum for writers with "no

institutional connection with The Times" - writers whose

views would "very frequently be completely divergent from

our own."

To understand Op-Ed, it helps to understand how the page

fits into The Times. The paper is divided into two worlds:

news and editorial. News is big. With the exception of

advertising, it is responsible for just about everything

you read in The Times: the national, foreign and

metropolitan reports, the Book Review, the magazine and so

on. Editorial is tiny. Everything it produces appears on

the page you're reading now and the one to its left.

In addition to Op-Ed, these two pages are home to

editorials, letters and the columns. Each plays a different

role. The editorials are the responsibility of the

publisher and the editorial board - they speak for the

editorial page and not, under any circumstances, for the

news side of the paper. The letters office publishes

readers' responses to news articles, editorials and essays

that have appeared in The Times. The seven regular staff

columnists represent themselves.

And Op-Ed? It's sometimes easiest to define it in the

negative. Op-Ed is different from the editorial page in

that it does not represent the views of anyone in the

editorial division, even its own editors. It is different

from letters in that it is not a venue to debate articles

that have appeared in The Times. It is different from the

columnists in that, well, the columnists do their own

thing. (They are the responsibility of the publisher and

editorial page editor. Our involvement with them is pretty

much limited to filling the extra space when they go on

vacation.)

These differences are important because Op-Ed, in some

measure, is shaped by its neighbors. The Op-Ed editors tend

to look for articles that cover subjects and make arguments

that have not been articulated elsewhere in the editorial

space. If the editorial page, for example, has a forceful,

long-held view on a certain topic, we are more inclined to

publish an Op-Ed that disagrees with that view. If you open

the newspaper and find the editorial page and Op-Ed in lock

step agreement or consistently writing on the same subject

day after day, then we aren't doing our job.

Our decisions about which essays to publish aren't governed

by a need for editorial variety alone. Among other things,

we look for timeliness, ingenuity, strength of argument,

freshness of opinion, clear writing and newsworthiness.

Personal experiences and first-person narrative can be

great, particularly when they're in service to a larger

idea. So is humor, when it's funny. Does it help to be

famous? Not really. In fact, the bar of acceptance gets

nudged a little higher for people who have the means to get

their message out in other ways - elected officials, heads

of state, corporate titans. It's incumbent on them to say

something forthright and unexpected. Op-Ed real estate is

too valuable to be taken up with press releases.

After all, we don't have a lot of space. On a day with two

columnists and an advertisement, Op-Ed has room for about

1,200 words of type. That's it. (Speaking of those

advertisements: we have nothing to do with them. They're

sold, placed and scheduled by The Times' advertising

department.) These unyielding boundaries mean that Op-Ed

cannot harbor any aspirations about being encyclopedic.

("All the views that are fit to print?" Not a chance,

alas.) For this reason, important subjects, issues and

ideas will go uncovered. Op-Ed will inevitably be

subjective and idiosyncratic.

These space considerations can be frustrating for editors

and contributors alike. Roughly 1,200 unsolicited

submissions come to our office every week via e-mail, fax

and the United States Postal Service. Many of these

submissions are first-rate - and most get turned down

simply because we don't have enough room to publish

everything we like. How do we know they're good? Because

all submissions are read; many are reviewed by the entire

staff; some are hotly debated before a decision is made.

Three more things to know about the process: First, no

article is guaranteed publication. Everything is written on

spec. This applies to all articles, even those we

commission. (Op-Ed is not a one-way street. We frequently

call up people and invite them to write for us.) Second,

what comes to Op-Ed stays in Op-Ed. Your ideas are not

passed on to our Times colleagues for their use. Third,

because we receive so many submissions, we cannot respond

to everyone who sends us an article. If you haven't heard

from us within two weeks, you should assume that we are not

going to be able to use your submission.

›Are there guidelines for submitting an article? You bet.

Shoot for about 750 words - though it's worth remembering

that some terrific and influential Op-Ed pieces have been

as short as 300 words. Move quickly, the news does. Eschew,

um, I mean, stay away from Olympian language and

bureaucratic jargon (infrastructure, inputs, outlays).

Write the article the way you'd like to write it - not the

way you think The Times wants you to write it. Make one

argument thoroughly, point by point; the more detail the

better. If you try to do too much, you can wind up with an

article that, in striving to say everything, ends up saying

nothing.

Also, you shouldn't feel that you have to rely on the

written word alone. Maybe your point is expressed best in a

chart, a graphic, an annotated illustration or a series of

photographs. We're open to just about anything, so long as

it's acceptable in a family newspaper. (Open letters to the

president don't have a great history of success.)

A few other guidelines. Submissions must be exclusive. If

you want us to consider your work, please send it here

first. We don't publish articles that have appeared in

other American publications, and we rarely publish reprints

of any kind. Contributors generally must let several months

go by between appearances on the page. For more information

on the submissions process, please see the box at the end

of this article.

What happens once an article is accepted? It will start

with a phone call or an e-mail message from an editor at

Op-Ed. You'll be asked to sign a contract giving The Times

the right, among other things, to distribute the article

online and via other newspapers. Once the article has been

scheduled for publication - it could be days or even months

after acceptance - we'll edit and fact-check your work.

Then we'll send you a copy for review. Nothing appears in

the paper until the writer has signed off on the edited

version.

There are, however, two zones of editorial privilege. We

choose the illustrations, which are created by artists to

complement specific articles and are overseen by our art

director. And we write the headlines. Contributors have no

say in these matters. (You're in good company - Times

reporters don't write their headlines, either.) At the end

of the day, you'll receive $450.

All of our writers are obviously opinionated about their

subjects, but we try very hard to make sure our readers

know if they have a financial or professional interest.

Contributors are asked a lot of specific questions toward

that end. In addition, we try to give readers enough

information - the dateline and identification line, for

example - so they can find out more about writers if they

wish. Sadly, mistakes happen. When they do, we do our

utmost to correct them quickly. (Op-Ed corrections appear

on the Op-Ed page.)

One last thought. There have been seven other Op-Ed

editors, starting with Harrison E. Salisbury back in 1970.

Every editor - and every staff - has done the job a little

bit differently. While the Op-Ed guidelines have remained

generally consistent, they have been known to shift - if

not by miles, then at least by feet or inches. What I've

told you applies to Op-Ed today, not Op-Ed forever.

Still, this is how things will work for a while, at least.

Now that you know, it's time to sit down and write up that

idea that's been gnawing at you for weeks.

- DAVID SHIPLEY