Over the course of my two terms as the Assistant Opinion Editor at The Dartmouth, I have been approached many times with the same question: How does a submission become a published op-ed? Most frequently, our Opinion staff provides the short answer -- "Through the editorial process, of course!"-- and directs the inquirer to The Dartmouth's editorial policy. But in order further to elucidate this response, and perhaps invite some feedback, I have decided to provide our readers, some of whom are future columnists and editors, with a peek inside the editorial process at The Dartmouth.
First, I should say a few words about the environment in which the Opinion page thrives -- that of The Dartmouth itself. The D traces its roots to 1799. It ceased publication for one year during World War I, but has published almost without interruption ever since. Presently, The D prints five days a week, from the beginning of the term until finals period. The D averages 40 issues per term. Our Opinion page usually spans one to two printed pages and, with two opinion-editorials per page, we print roughly 100 op-eds each term.
Our busiest times during the term mirror those of the campus: the first and last weeks of the term. During the first week, we often find ourselves especially in demand for content as we wait for our writers to get settled in on campus. During the last week, everyone is busy preparing for finals, and we on the staff are busy appealing to our writers for submissions. As the clich goes, the page is only as good as those who write for it. Our urge to provide the campus with the best available content is therefore directly correlated with the quality of our submissions.
The Dartmouth offices are located on the second floor of Robinson. The Opinion section occupies one of its rooms. Opinion does not control the entire room; its two Apple computers share space with the Sports page and, on Thursdays, The Dartmouth Mirror. After a long tradition of separation between those who report what they think and those who report what others think, a Chinese Wall demarcates Opinion from News, found in the adjacent room. This symbolically prevents the news writers from editorializing (and, as my friends sometimes joke, prevents facts from making their way onto the Opinion page). With this environment in mind, I will take you through the process of how each submission is processed.
The day for our staff -- which, this term, consists of Opinion Editor Ben Selznick '07, our other Assistant Opinion Editor Sara del Nido '08 and myself -- starts at 4 p.m. We arrive at the office according to our daily commitments. Each one of us is familiar and comfortable with the job to be done, and gets started on it without waiting for the other two to trickle in. The first order of business is to open the following day's layout. Examining the available white space -- which depends on whether we have one or two pages, whether we have ads, etc. -- allows us to determine the amount of content that we need for that day. Providing content on the page is not an option. We can neither print a blank page, nor cut the Opinion section entirely.
After assessing the content requirements for the day, we turn to the content itself: your submissions. Each submission is given a once-over by all three of us. The Opinion Editor has the final say, but both assistants contribute their thoughts.
We believe in printing opinions that incite and provoke our readers, make them think and, ideally, draw them into a dialogue. The best submissions are ones which can draw responses in the forms of letters to the editor or guest columns. We look for a coherent and clear argument that is well-structured and well-written. In addition, we evaluate the timeliness of submissions. The submission should be pertinent to current events and, hopefully, to events at Dartmouth.
Each of us approaches the submission from our own editorial perspective -- one might place greater weight on diction, another on structure, yet another on timeliness. I personally value strong argumentation over timeliness. I also put a strong emphasis on the quality of writing. Our audience consists primarily of students, the administration, Hanover residents and alumni. As such, it is a very well-educated audience. While The New York Times editors urge their writers to water down their diction, I believe we would be doing a disservice to our audience if we were to do the same. This is not a case of Ivy League pretentiousness but, rather, an adaptation to our environment.
After an initial read-through, we determine which content will make it onto the page. If changes need to be made to the submissions we want to publish, we try to contact the writers so that they can either approve our changes, or revise the submissions themselves. However, sometimes deadlines, or the lack of response from columnists, force us to make minor changes ourselves. If the changes are significant, our current staff often returns the author's work, commenting on what changes can be made in order to make the submission publishable.
The publishable content is now given another name: the op-ed. Op-ed is short for opinion-editorial, a term that borrows its meaning from the 1970s when The New York Times first published columnist opinions on the opposite page from staff editorials.
The op-ed is placed on the page and awaits final editing. Our editing styles differ. I prefer to print out the page and edit at a table. Selznick edits using the layout computer program. Del Nido is comfortable with either. Usually, two of us re-read the op-ed, both to fix spelling and grammatical errors, as well as to conform the writing to The Dartmouth Manual of Style and Usage. After editing the op-ed is placed on the page. If, once edited, placed on the page and kerned, (a layout term that refers to space adjustments) the op-ed is still too long, one of us goes back to cut the necessary amount of nonessential words. (This process is not as tedious as it seems. Since there are three of us, some parts -- such as editing and determining the amount to be cut -- occur simultaneously.)
In the final stage, the op-ed is conformed to the page style, with the author's name, year, and status as either guest, contributing or staff columnist. The op-ed is now ready for print.
Finally, the job of the Opinion staff is done and, tired and hungry, we go home. However, while our work may be over, the page is not yet finished. After we leave, the page is also read by the evening managing editor and then the copy editor, who looks for any last-minute mistakes. The final eyes that grace our page before it becomes available to the public are those of the senior editor. Having passed the hurdle of the editing process -- many people from the time it's submitted to the time it's printed -- our page is complete.
