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Why Op-Eds Matter

Op-eds can be persuasive and emotional in tone. For example: if your goal is to encourage your community to advocate for healthier vending machine choices in public spaces, you could ask a local parent to write an emotional op–ed about the lack of options when they visit a state park or local library with their kids.

Public commentary has long been one of the most powerful ways to broadly communicate ideas. By having an opinion editorial, commonly called an op-ed, published, you’ll be able to convey your campaign’s essential messages to legislators, journalists, and the community through the voice of one of your volunteers or advocates who is passionate about your cause.

In the past few years, competition from expanded news and information sources like blogs and social media has made publication easier, but competition for attention tougher. This means that you’ll have to offer your best thinking and most influential voices in order to maximize your chances of having a newspaper print your op-ed—and have people care who you are and what you have to say.

Op-Ed Tips and Tricks

  • Choose your signer carefully. To ensure the best chance of earning placement on a news platform or gaining people’s attention, enlist a high-profile influencer to sign and submit your op-ed. Ideally, this influencer should be well known within your community and the audience of the publication, such as a doctor, researcher, teacher, active parent, school principal or superintendent, or politician. Keep in mind that if you write an op-ed that mentions legislation and ask a legislator to sign it, all costs related to researching, writing, and placing the op-ed are lobbying expenses.
  • Ask yourself: “Who cares?” Make sure your piece will clearly resonate with or be meaningful to the public. Start by writing from the reader’s point of view.
  • Keep things tight. News outlets have limited space, so keep your opinion editorial to 500 words or so. Some outlets have even shorter limits, while a few will accept up to 700+ words. Check your paper’s requirements before submitting.
  • Speak conversationally. Avoid jargon, fancy words, and slang. Your op-ed must be understandable to the general public, including people that may have no knowledge of the issue or your campaign.
  • Get to the point. Make your key points early and often, and back them up with facts and examples.
  • Offer a short, snappy headline. A good headline gives readers a preview of what your op-ed has to say. (Keep in mind that some news outlets will write their own headlines, regardless of what you submit.)
  • Be prepared to be edited. Op-ed submissions are subject to revisions, editing, and fact-checking. Editors usually do NOT need your approval to make revisions or edits to accommodate space limitations, provided they do not change the context of your position. Sources for factual statements should be listed at the bottom of your op-ed to expedite review and placement processes.
  • Include your contact information. Be sure to include your name, title, organization (as needed), email, and phone number in case the editors want to contact you.

A sample op-ed is available below and in the Resources section.

Key Takeaways

  • Choose your signer carefully. Having a local leader’s signature on your op-ed can help increase its chance of being published.
  • Be brief, and check your target publication’s word limit for op-eds. Usually, 500 words is a good target.
  • Op-eds can be either rational or emotional, depending on the story you want to tell.

 

Related Resources

Write Your Own Op-Ed

Lobbying vs. Non-Lobbying Checklist

Note on Lobbying