Some changes coming to Idaho Statesman Opinion section
With the new year come some changes to the Opinion section of the Idaho Statesman. First, we’ve assembled a new editorial board with some new faces and some familiar ones. Board members from the Statesman staff are publisher Rusty Dodge, editor Christina Lords, me, growth editor Dana Oland and breaking news editor Jim Keyser, joining community members Bob Kustra, Sophie Sestero and Mike Wetherell.
Look for editorials and opinion pieces that are quicker to the draw, reporting in real time as events are happening. You can stay up to date by following me on Twitter @ScottMcIntosh12 and the Statesman on Twitter: @IdahoStatesman. You can also follow the Idaho Statesman on Facebook, where most of our opinion pieces are posted.
We’re also increasingly experimenting with subscriber-only content, so if you’re already a subscriber, you can access everything on our website as part of your subscription, but you’ll need to activate your digital subscription. Activate your digital subscription by going here: https://account.idahostatesman.com/digital-access.
You’ll also probably want to activate your digital subscription because starting next month, we’re eliminating our Saturday print product, moving everything to the e-edition on our website. Again, subscribers will be able to access that as part of their regular subscription.
I’m also working on some new ways to improve and increase interaction and engagement with our readers in 2020, so stay tuned for announcements on that front.
If you are submitting a letter to the editor, please know that we are not able to publish in print every letter we receive. We will select letters based on timeliness and topical relevance, with a strong preference for local and state issues. If your letter is found to have factual errors or dubious claims unsubstantiated by verification, we will not consider it for publication. Some letters will appear in print, while others will appear online only.
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to inform every letter writer whether their letter is running or not, and I won’t be able to keep every letter writer updated on when their letter runs in the print edition. I will do my best to get most letters online, at least.
If you’d like to submit a guest opinion, we receive a high volume, making it impossible to print every worthy piece, and it’s even more difficult to get a guest opinion piece in print. Often, a guest opinion piece can be cut down to 200 words and resubmitted as a letter to the editor. If you choose to resubmit as a letter to the editor, we will consider that submission, again basing selection on timeliness and topical relevance, with a preference for local and state issues.
You can submit a letter or guest opinion through our website by clicking on “Submit a Letter or Opinion” in the drop-down menu from our homepage under “Opinion.” Or you can email directly to editorial@idahostatesman.com.
As always, readers of the Idaho Statesman are also invited to share your opinions on our website, idahostatesman.com, and our Facebook page.
In the meantime, send me your ideas for what you’d like to see on the Opinion page in 2020, what stories we should pursue, what editorial positions you would like to see us take, and what columnists you like and don’t like.
A couple of examples from last year of stories that I pursued because of feedback from readers include the Caldwell house flying Swastika flags, the driver with a long history of driving without privileges and a state legislator equating Model UN with indoctrination.
You can send suggestions directly to me at smcintosh@idahostatesman.com.
