Talk by Chemerinsky, Makdisi, and Nicholas Goldberg on the Op-Ed Articles in the LA Times

Talk by Irwin Chemerinsky, Sadee Makdisi, and Nicholas Goldberg on the Op-Ed Articles in the LA Times, on November 12, 2013.
Erwin Chemerinsky (C) is the Dean of the UC Irvine Law School
Nicholas Goldberg (N) was the Op-Ed Editor of the LA Times, 2003-2009, and is now the Editor of the Editorial Pages.
Saree Makdisi (S) is an Op-Ed contributor from UCLA

This talk at UC Irvine was put on by the Department of Literary Journalism of the School of the Humanities.
The announcement of the talk is at this link, as well as the introduction to the speakers.
I will use the shorthand C, N, and S for the speakers above.
After we moved to the larger Humanities Gateway lecture hall, the room was full.
(The parenthetical remarks are my own. So are any mistakes in paraphrasing, attribution, English, and spelling.)

N: The Op-Ed section presents ideas, not just news

C: Has published more than a hundred op eds. They only pay $150 each. What motivates Chemerinsky is: (1) to educate people about the law; (2) to influence opinion and to give arguments for others to consider; and (2) because he finds it is enjoyable to express his opinions.

(I went to learn how to write better articles for my blog, which is mainly science, not expert op-eds.)

N: There are 300-500 submissions a week of op-eds, and they only accept 28.

S: The LA Times op-eds have a big audience, and he can present issues often ignored in the US. He can also educate LA Times editors about these issues.

N: The editors use policy makers, authors, and academics, who they help translate to a general audience.

S: The challenge to say what you have to say in 750 words, This is supposedly hard for academics.

(Since I run my own blog, I don’t have an editor or that restriction, but I am aware that in this internet age, readers, like myself, prefer shorter articles. Unfortunately, careful scientific explanation doesn’t do well with limits.)

All: Be prepared for hate mail

C: don’t read hate mail

N: will occasionally take on mail to answer a specific and seemingly reasonable commenter. But beware, the response can escalate.

S: Can receive hate mail because they assume that he is a woman (not), a Muslim (not), and an emigrant (not).

S: discussed that the Times uses Israeli nomenclature. N: the newspaper spends time on this type of issue and tries not to use loaded terminology

N: the LA Times now presents a range of viewpoints

The audience was now asked for questions.

Q. Are there limits to what or who to publish? Examples were discussed related to Middle East issues and factions.

C: will defend right to publish free speech even hate speech, butt not if it is defamatory. The answer to offensive speech is to balance it with more speech. The public can judge.

N: The Times will not publish crackpots, or inaccurate comments, or already settled issues.

N: They were criticized when a climate change denier letter was denied. But they would not take an inaccurate letter.

C: the op-ed must be timely, which is a hook for its relevance. The op-ed is more important because it was selected and edited for clarity.

S: The op-eds are a clearinghouse for ideas and not preaching

C: Hate speech is protected, but not threats

N: The Times does anniversaries of events, that stimulates recall and how the present can be related to historical events.

N: Many of the pieces are from experts. It is a forum for expertise and conflicts.

S: To a question about the articles being purely intellectual rather than with affect, passion and anger are ok to express, but not hate. But anger is not always productive. His editors said let the description generate its own anger in the reader.

C: Caring is an important motivator to write, as well as a personal involvement. Most of his op- eds are about reasoned arguments.

N: Humor or satirical can be important, but sometimes get criticism by people who take such comments seriously.

N: for the NY Times, over 50% of subscriptions are not local. But the LA Times is more local.

S: I am an English Prof., but it is important for non-expert opinions as well.
(Since I write about many subjects on the internet, I also agree with that.)

C: He usually writes only in the area of his expertise on constitutional law.

N: To a question about gender balance of published op-eds, they do look for gender balance.
On any issue, they want balance over time. There is a 5:1 ratio of submissions by men compared to women. They want the best pieces, but are aware of it.

N: He tries not to make choices based on his own opinions on issues. He likes other opinions. The editors now want more conservative pieces.

About Dennis SILVERMAN

I am a retired Professor of Physics and Astronomy at U C Irvine. For two decades I have been active in learning about energy and the environment, and in reporting on those topics for a decade. For the last four years I have added science policy. Lately, I have been reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic of our times.
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