Submit an Opinion Piece
Publishing the voices of our readers and community members is a long-time tradition at the Point/Plover Metro Wire. This is done by soliciting, receiving, and publishing letters to the editor, op-eds, and columns.
So, what’s the difference?
COLUMNS are written by credible individuals who have been invited by the Metro Wire to repeatedly share their writing. These are opinion pieces containing data, sources, and possibly, contents from an interview conducted by the columnist.
Columns are clearly labeled as such, although depending on the topic may qualify as a “Top Story” on our website due to their timeliness or relevance of the topic to current issues.
OP-EDS are one-time guest editorials written by Portage Co. residents who possess expertise or knowledge in a particular subject area. For example, an opinion piece on local water quality written by the county’s water specialist, or the city’s water director, would be classified as an op-ed.
Both headlines are prefaced with “Editorial” or “Column” so there is never any confusion. Each op-ed also includes an italicized note that states who wrote it and what makes the author qualified to write about the topic.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR are letters submitted by community members who aren’t necessarily experts, but who have an opinion they feel inclined to share. However, letters containing inaccurate or incomplete information will be tagged with an italicized disclaimer, or they may not be published at all.
Open Letter Guidelines
Letters should contain an opinion. Letters should also be very clear, even for an “outsider” who may not be familiar with your topic, so avoid industry jargon, shorthand, and nicknames.
We do not publish “thank you” letters. These are advertisements and must be paid for.
We do not accept open letters from third parties. Letters must be original to the author, and the author must live in Portage Co., Wis., and include their city/town of residence.
Letters sent in for consideration must include the author’s real first and last name and city/town/village of residence and must disclose any office they are currently seeking or holding.
We only accept open letters from residents of Portage County, with the exception of those submitted by state leaders on a matter of local relevance.
Letters may be published online within a few hours. The Metro Wire reserves the right to publish only a few letters representing a larger number of letters with the same opinion or to not publish a letter at all.
Letters containing threats, vulgarity, or inaccurate claims may not be published.
DO NOT send letters via Google Docs, PDF, Word document, or other attachments. Letters MUST be written in the body of an email. Due to limited staff time, we DO NOT rewrite letters that are sent in by U.S. Mail or scanned into a computer for emailing.
Letters that are not spell-checked will not be considered for publication.
DEADLINES
Provided your letter meets our requirements, letters are typically published online within a few hours. The deadline for letters related to an election is one week in advance of said election.
Send your open letters to [email protected].
If you’d like to write a column for the Metro Wire, send a pitch to [email protected].