Skip to main content

Letter to the Editor

Letters to the editor represent the views of readers. The letters feature a broad range of opinions. Letters are selected from a large volume by the Globe's letters editor, Matthew Bernstein. The best way to increase the chance of having your letter chosen is to make it timely, original, and short. Usually, letters respond to articles or opinion pieces in the Globe, not simply to general issues of the day. The Globe reserves the right to edit letters for space, clarity, or content.

Letters should be sent exclusively to the Globe in 200 words or less and must include the sender’s name, address, and phone number for verification.


Op-Ed

Op-ed pieces represent the views of individual columnists and contributing writers. They reflect the diverse views of people in the community and beyond — and present viewpoints that run counter to the Globe editorial board's positions. The Globe's op-ed pages are curated by Globe Opinion's deputy managing editor Marjorie Pritchard and deputy op-ed page editor Amy MacKinnon.

The Boston Globe welcomes unsolicited op-ed submissions that are original, surprising, pithy, and well-written arguments on a timely issue. Topics on which you have firsthand expertise and/or experience face better odds of publication. Please keep the piece to 700 words.

Ideas

Ideas is a section that asks "what if?" and "why not?" We aim to surprise and inspire readers by illuminating possible solutions to complex problems and challenging conventional wisdom. Editor Brian Bergstein and deputy Ideas editor Kelly Horan accept submissions for reported stories, book excerpts/adaptations, first-person essays, op-eds, and Q&A features.

You'll help your chances if you send a completed submission, not a pitch; your submission is in the body of the e-mail instead of an attachment; and you tell us, in a line, who you are and why you're uniquely qualified to write this piece.

The Globe editorial board deliberates and takes positions on matters of policy in the public interest, holds leaders and institutions accountable for meeting high standards, and clarifies current events for the public. The board is a group of writers and editors on the Opinion team who conduct their own research and meet regularly to deliberate on the Globe's editorial viewpoint. The board meets often with policy makers, advocates, community members, political and business leaders, and academic experts to inform its positions. Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board and the Globe as an institution.

The Globe editorial board is led by the editorial page editor James Dao and deputy editor Alan Wirzbicki.

The Globe also makes candidate endorsements during elections. Editorial writers, columnists, and editors conduct interviews with candidates and vet their policy proposals and backgrounds.

The Endorsement Process

How and why does the Globe endorse presidential candidates

A Q&A with former editorial page editor Bina Venkatarman

The Globe editorial board endorses political candidates and ballot questions in local, state, and national primaries and elections on a selective basis. When determining whether to endorse a candidate or a position, it weighs the potential it has to clarify issues for readers and voters, the closeness of the contest, and the importance to residents of the region. Because of time constraints, it cannot endorse in all worthy races, so it also makes determinations based upon what it knows is essential to our readers and what reflects its areas of expertise as a board.

When evaluating candidates and positions, it looks at what will achieve the greatest good. The deliberations involve conducting interviews with candidates and proponents of positions, independent research and reporting on their backgrounds, and a detailed discussion of the candidates’ policy positions and personal qualities among the board. It looks for alignment with policies that the board has determined over time are in the public interest and, in the case of candidates, for personal qualities that show their potential for strong leadership and public service. It also tries to determine whether candidates will make the most urgent and important issues facing their constituents a priority. (For more context, read this Poynter Institute interview with editorial page editors, including the Globe’s, on why newspapers endorse candidates, and this National Press Institute interview on the Globe’s endorsement of Joe Biden for 12 different voter types.)

Globe endorsements are collective decisions that do not necessarily reflect any given board member’s position or preferred candidate. It often endorses candidates and positions that the largest number of board members can converge upon given the knowledge we have at the time of the endorsement.

In 2020, the board learned that many readers want to know more about its endorsement process and about candidates, especially when it endorses candidates early in the election season, something it ventured to do because of the coronavirus pandemic and the dramatic rise in early and mail-in voting. Going forward, the board hopes to host Globe Op-Talks with select candidates it endorses in major races, in an effort to raise and vet readers’ questions for candidates and the board after an endorsement.

James Dao

Editorial Page Editor

Marjorie Pritchard

Op-ed Editor and Deputy Managing Editor

Alan Wirzbicki

Deputy Editor, Editorials

Brian Bergstein

Ideas Editor

Rami Abou-Sabe

Digital Editor

Kimberly Atkins

Senior Opinion Writer

Matthew Bernstein

Letters Page Editor

Abi Canina

Manager of Programs and Operations

Rachelle G. Cohen

Assistant Editorial Page Editor

Marcela García

Associate Editor and Columnist

Renée Graham

Columnist

Carine Hajjar

Opinion Writer

Heather Hopp-Bruce

Director of Visual Strategy for Globe Opinion

Kelly Horan

Deputy Ideas Editor

Jeff Jacoby

Columnist

Anna Kusmer

Audio Producer

Scot Lehigh

Columnist

Amy MacKinnon

Deputy Op-ed Page Editor

Andrew Nguyen

Newsroom Developer

Jessie Tremmel

Multiplatform Editor

David Scharfenberg

Ideas Writer and Editorial Writer

Shira Schoenberg

Editorial Writer

Joan Vennochi

Columnist

Future-proofing the presidency

Donald Trump brought our democracy to the brink and exposed its weak spots. Here’s how to thwart the next American tyrant.

A battle for affordable housing in Massachusetts

The Globe editorial board’s 2020 series on the need for inclusive housing reform in Newton and across the Commonwealth.

The Emancipator

A collaboration between BU’s Center for Antiracist Research and The Boston Globe’s Opinion team.

The Longevity Hub

The Boston Globe opinion section and MIT’s AgeLab present The Longevity Hub, an ongoing series seeking to spark Greater Boston’s transformation into the Silicon Valley of aging.

Don’t Look Back

A conversation about what we should keep from pandemic life — and what we can now reimagine.

The Future of Work

The past year has shattered expectations of what workdays look like. Parenting while Zooming. An uncrowded T. Wary interactions with customers. In this special issue of Ideas, we explore which of these changes will stick — and how they’ll affect the quality of our lives.

Brave New Planet

A podcast that delves deep into the most exciting and challenging scientific frontiers, helping us understand them and grapple with their implications. In partnership with the Broad Institute, Pushkin Industries, and the Boston Globe's Opinion team.

Massachusetts Works

Instead of focusing on what's broken, this special section takes a look at what Massachusetts gets right.

Superblocks

Cities around the world are reconfiguring their urban grids to support local communities and economies. Boston should do it too.

Journalists are not the enemy

A central pillar of President Trump’s politics is a sustained assault on the free press. Journalists are not classified as fellow Americans, but rather “the enemy of the people.”

Black voices now

Globe opinion seeks to amplify the perspectives and the voices of Black community members, scholars, activists, doctors, teachers, business leaders, students, and parents as op-ed and letter writers, and as innovators and provocateurs featured in Globe Ideas.

Legal Lens

Law and documentary film may seem far apart, but they actually share many connections.