Interested in publishing your opinion for IDS readers?
Members of the community can submit a Letter to the Editor or a guest column as a response or call-to-attention about relevant issues, which could vary from academics to IU administration to larger community issues.
A letter to the editor is a shorter response or callout, and it may be in response to something previously published in the IDS. A guest column is a longer piece that provides clear explanation and dissection of an issue.
Any questions can be directed to letters@idsnews.com, and an editor will promptly respond.
A Letter to the Editor should:
Not exceed 200 - 250 words in length.
be in the form of a response to an article published by the IDS within the last month or a contemporary issue regarding the IDS, IU or the Bloomington community.
include a title and abstract (subtitle)
indicative of the general theme or topic of your letter. Both should be under 12 words.
be fact-checked and provide evidence for claims. The IDS will conduct its own fact-check and reserves the right to reject a letter based on a lack of facts presented.
Guest columns should:
not exceed 500 - 650 words in length.
respond to a contemporary topic or issue facing the IU and/or Bloomington community. Some exceptions may be granted.
should include a title and abstract (subtitle) indicative of the general theme or topic of your letter. Both should be under 12 words.
submitted with either an appropriate photo or photo suggestion related to the general theme or topic of the guest column.
If a photo is submitted, a two-sentence caption describing the content of the photo and when the subject matter took place should be included
If a photo suggestion is submitted, we will use that to find a similar photo to use for the guest column or op-ed and will generate the caption
be fact-checked by the author and provide evidence for claims. The IDS will conduct its own fact-check and reserves the right to reject a guest column based on a lack of facts presented.
The IDS reserves the right to alter, edit and condense the content of submitted letters and guest columns to come into accordance with our editorial standards and practices
The IDS can also reject any submissions believed to be in bad faith, intentionally harmful or damaging or otherwise outside of the guidelines outlined above
Submission and Publishing Process
Letters and guest columns can be submitted via email at letters@idsnews.com They also can be mailed or dropped off at the IDS newsroom at 601 E. Kirkwood Ave., Bloomington, IN, 47405.
Submitters should expect a response within 1-2 days with confirmation of intent to publish, followed-up by next steps or a message of rejection. Letters and guest columns will be published online only.
If accepted, authors need to make themselves available within the following week in order to address any required alterations and/or edits to the article. If authors fail to address or accept the changes made to the initially submitted article, the IDS reserves the right to refuse publishing.
