Course Details

The op-ed pages of major newspapers are read by the highest levels of government, can sway public opinion, and change the world. The New York Times op-ed page is called the "best real estate in the business." Those who gain access become exponentially more powerful. Op-eds also attract the attention of television producers, book agents, and policy makers. A single op-ed can jump-start a career, get you a book contract, or make you part of a national debate.

This 8-week master class is designed to teach writers, journalists, scholars, and activists how to write and publish opinion pieces. It will also provide context for thinking about the form. We will look at studies of opinion pages of newspapers over time, in order to understand patterns that work-ie, style, length, subject matter, and orientation of typically successful op-eds-and to understand what kinds of pieces tend to get accepted by the most prestigious newspapers. (Statistics and annual reports from various national op-ed projects and studies will be discussed).

Students will be invited to submit an op-ed every other week for feedback, and in alternating weeks Catherine Orenstein will edit and critique the submitted op-eds with the class. The course will also supplement practical instruction with discussions of important theoretical issues, like: what exactly is "opinion writing"; writing from the point of view of gender, race, ethnicity; writing op-eds as an activist; and finding ones' voice.

For models, we'll look at the work of some of the masters of the genre, both past and present, including: Walter Lippmann, H.L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, Mary McCarthy, Joan Didion, Irving Kristol, Anna Quindlin, Katha Pollitt, Eric Alterman, Michael Massing, and others. We'll also regularly monitor and discuss the opinion pages of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, as well as weekly publications such as The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, and The Nation.

In this class you can expect to learn:

• How to generate winning ideas, how to pitch them, and how to structure articles successfully-meaning not only that they get published, but that they make an impact.
• How to use news hooks to generate winning ideas
• How to write a quick, successful, professional pitch email
• How to write a lede; how to buttress an argument; how to address your opposition
• How to use standard op-ed structure

By the end of this class students can expect to have: Produced up to four 800-word opinion pieces. The goal will be to produce at least one piece that is ready to be published.