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Letters vs Guest Opinions
So you’d like to write a guest opinion instead of a letter to the editor? Well, you’re not alone. You have succumb to the theory that more is better — in this case up to 600 words instead of about 250.
Because of the requests for guest opinions, we’ve had to establish limits on their use simply because we don’t have enough space to run a guest opinion from every who wants to write one.
In fact, often we don’t have enough space for guest opinions that do fit into our loose policy.
Generally, you qualify for a guest opinion if you have some expertise on the topic about which you are writing.
For example, anyone can have an opinion on national health care. So they would qualify for a 250-word letter to the editor.
However, to turn that 250-word letter into a 600-word guest opinion, the writer should be someone in the health care industry or insurance, i.e. someone who, in theory at least, would have some special expertise on the topic.
Another example is the local school budget. Residents of a school district certainly have views about the way their district is financed and spends their tax dollars. So they could write a 250-letter expressing them. However, a superintendent or finance officer of the district might be granted a guest opinion because that individual, presumably, would have more detailed expertise on the topic.
Sometimes the line is not exact and so we usually error on the side of fairness — in other words, we’ll let an individual write a guest opinion, even if they may not be quite the expert they appeared to be.
The problem we’ve faced, as I’ve mentioned, is that when people learn we have the guest opinion option, they immediately want to write a 600-word piece.
Most views on a specific topic can be expressed in 250 words or less. The 600-word opinions allow for more details to be presented but often extra details are not needed and quite frequently, they can make topics redundant.
In reference to letters to the editor that allow a reader to express an opinion, the old axiom “less is more” definitely applies in 99 percent of the cases. A 250-word letter to the editor is much better than trying to express the same views a 600-word guest opinion. The letter will get read more quickly and completely than the guest opinion and the bottom line, it normally gets a writer’s view across more accurately than a guest opinion.
Because of the requests for guest opinions, we’ve had to establish limits on their use simply because we don’t have enough space to run a guest opinion from every who wants to write one.
In fact, often we don’t have enough space for guest opinions that do fit into our loose policy.
Generally, you qualify for a guest opinion if you have some expertise on the topic about which you are writing.
For example, anyone can have an opinion on national health care. So they would qualify for a 250-word letter to the editor.
However, to turn that 250-word letter into a 600-word guest opinion, the writer should be someone in the health care industry or insurance, i.e. someone who, in theory at least, would have some special expertise on the topic.
Another example is the local school budget. Residents of a school district certainly have views about the way their district is financed and spends their tax dollars. So they could write a 250-letter expressing them. However, a superintendent or finance officer of the district might be granted a guest opinion because that individual, presumably, would have more detailed expertise on the topic.
Sometimes the line is not exact and so we usually error on the side of fairness — in other words, we’ll let an individual write a guest opinion, even if they may not be quite the expert they appeared to be.
The problem we’ve faced, as I’ve mentioned, is that when people learn we have the guest opinion option, they immediately want to write a 600-word piece.
Most views on a specific topic can be expressed in 250 words or less. The 600-word opinions allow for more details to be presented but often extra details are not needed and quite frequently, they can make topics redundant.
In reference to letters to the editor that allow a reader to express an opinion, the old axiom “less is more” definitely applies in 99 percent of the cases. A 250-word letter to the editor is much better than trying to express the same views a 600-word guest opinion. The letter will get read more quickly and completely than the guest opinion and the bottom line, it normally gets a writer’s view across more accurately than a guest opinion.
posted by Allan Adler at
4:21 PM
4 Comments:
How about you guys actually have experts on the subjects doing the guest opinions, then? In the past you had a professor (I believe from Wayne State and in the field of either journalism or political science) writing multiple guest opinions on the subject of waterboarding. The professor was not an expert in interrogation techniques, and most interrogation experts would disagree with his opinions, anyway.
And the man who used to be a higher-up at GM is expected to be an expert on health care? How about he stick to writing about cars?
I'd like to find a liberal counterpart for a guest opinion, but as of late I haven't seen any.
The woman was pregnet with her forth child and was seeing a new doctor. He had degrees all over his wall and tried to convince her he was qualified for a guest opinion. It was a medical issue she wasen't qualified for. Then she asked HIM how he felt the first time a baby kicked inside HIS womb. So... who was more qualified to give a guest opinion on having a baby? People at the bottom have viewpoints to.
I think we shouldn't have to have our comments to bloggs not approved just because we have a comment. They are not offensive in the least. Is it Freedom of Speech to not allow certain people to not make a comment?
Mr. Adler has a fairly tough assignment.He makes it no easier on Himself with this missive. To Call Mr. Bruce Fealk a "Person with Some Expertise" and let him Run-On about the economy, when his Linked-in profile saye "Independent Political Consultant",is illustrative of the Incremental changes,occuring at The O.Press. Mr.Fealk was also given space to write a"News Article" on the recent Progressive Rally, in D. C.The term "Teabagger" was utilized,in the first few sentences.Only a very few, Cherry-Picked Sponsors were mentioned.Left out included Communist and Socialist Organizations(CPUSA,Socialist Int'l, Dem. Soc. of America(70 US Reps.in same),to name a few)). Mr Glenn Gilbert not only allows this to occur, he is complicit in this shift to nowhere.His 14th Amendment Opine was fairly farcical,and one sided. His Tea-Party Death Knell, right after the Primaries, was only commented on by a Progressive(Andy Meissner). Skip Fair,what about Balance, Sirs and Ladies??When you publish a Point, how about Counterpoint,Oakland Press? Or is Hegelian Dialectic,The New Now,at Your House?
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