The Boston Globe’s opinion pages are completely separate from the news operation. The editor of the editorial pages and the editor of the Globe do not coordinate decisions on coverage. Globe endorsements of candidates, for example, are made without consultation with any newsroom reporter or editor, and Globe reporters are expected to cover campaigns without paying any regard to editorial page endorsements. This “separation of church and state,” as it is sometimes called, is a cherished tradition at most major newspapers and helps protect the integrity of both departments.
Editorials
Editorials represent the official view of the Boston Globe as a community institution, which is why they are not signed by individual writers. The editorial board, listed below, meets regularly to discuss ideas and come to a consensus on the Globe’s editorial viewpoint. Editorial writers do their own research and reporting. From time to time, the group gathers for briefings with policy makers, advocates, or academic experts on a topic before reaching a position.
Like most newspapers nationwide, the Globe makes candidate endorsements during elections. Editorial writers, columnists, and editors research candidates’ backgrounds, watch debates, and conduct group interviews with individual candidates. The group — including the publisher — generally makes decisions by consensus. When differences of opinion arise, it’s up to the editorial page editor and the publisher to settle them.
Op-eds
Op-ed pieces (literally, opposite the editorial page) represent the views of individual columnists and writers. Unlike the editorial page, this page does not reflect the institutional views of the Globe. Instead, the op-ed page is designed to reflect the views of people in the community – so viewpoints may be presented that run counter to the Globe’s institutional position.
The Boston Globe welcomes unsolicited op-ed offerings. Please keep the piece to 700 words and send by e-mail to [email protected], by fax to 617-929-2098, or by mail to:
Op-ed Editor, The Boston Globe
1 Exchange Pl, Ste 201
Boston, MA 02109-2132
Letters
Letters to the editor represent the views of individual readers. Ideally, the letters page features a broad range of opinions. Letters are selected from an extremely large volume by the letters editor. 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 must be signed and include a daytime phone number for verification. Send your letters (200 words or less) to [email protected] or to:
Letters to the Editor
The Boston Globe
1 Exchange Pl, Ste. 201
Boston, MA 02109-2132
Because of the high volume of mail, we are unable to respond personally unless we are going to use the material. If you have not been contacted within five business days, you may assume that the piece was not selected for publication.
Editorial board
Marjorie Pritchard, Daily Op-ed Page Editor
As deputy managing editor, Marjorie Pritchard oversees the Globe’s opinion page. She edits Globe staff columnists and regular contributors as well as commission pieces from thought leaders around the country.
Contact: [email protected].
Alan Wirzbicki, Senior Editorial Writer
Alan Wirzbicki has worked at the Globe in various capacities since 2004, including Washington correspondent, political reporter, and senior editorial writer. He lives in Jamaica Plain.
Contact: [email protected].
Marcela García, Editorial Writer
Marcela García joined the Globe editorial board in early 2014, and has been writing editorials and columns since. Previously, she was a correspondent for Telemundo Boston, a special contributor to the Boston Business Journal, and the editor of El Planeta, Boston’s largest Spanish-language publication.
Contact: [email protected].
David Scharfenberg, Ideas Writer and Editorial Writer
David Scharfenberg is an editorial writer and staff writer for the Globe’s Ideas section. He previously worked as a reporter in the Globe’s State House bureau. A graduate of Brown University, he has written for The New York Times and The Providence Journal and was a radio reporter at WBUR in Boston.
Contact: [email protected].
Jeff Jacoby, Columnist
Jeff Jacoby, who has been a columnist for The Boston Globe since 1994, is a conservative writer with a national reputation. A native of Cleveland, Jeff has degrees from George Washington University and from Boston University Law School. Before entering journalism, he (briefly) practiced law at the prominent firm of Baker & Hostetler, worked on several political campaigns in Massachusetts, and was an assistant to Dr. John Silber, the president of Boston University. In 1999, Jeff became the first recipient of the Breindel Prize, a major award for excellence in opinion journalism. In 2014, he was included in the “Forward 50,” a list of the most influential American Jews.
Contact: [email protected].
Scot Lehigh, Columnist
A columnist for the editorial/op-ed section, Lehigh provides commentary on a number of issues. Since joining the staff in 1989, he has held several editorial positions and has been a consistent member of the paper’s political reporting staff.
Contact: [email protected].
Joan Vennochi, Columnist
Joan Vennochi started at the Boston Globe as a researcher on the Spotlight Team and shared in a Pulitzer Prize for a series on the MBTA. Since then, she has covered city, state and national politics; created a business column that explored the intersection of business and politics; and now writes for the op-ed page. As a member of the Globe editorial board, she also helps formulate and write editorials. She is a graduate of Boston University and Suffolk Law School.
Contact: [email protected].
Renée Graham, Columnist
Renée Graham is a columnist for the Globe’s op-ed page. She started as a general assignment reporter, and then moved to features and arts covering music, film, and television as a writer and critic. She also wrote a weekly pop culture column.
Contact: [email protected].
Matthew Bernstein, Letters Page Editor
Matthew Bernstein has been on staff at The Boston Globe since 1997, and since 2006 he has been the paper’s letters editor, where, as a multiplatform editor, he has been responsible for fielding, selecting, and editing readers’ letters; laying out the Inbox section in print; and producing letters online. He also contributes to the web production of op-eds. In addition, Bernstein has written a number of opinion pieces and arts reviews.
Contact: [email protected].
Jon Garelick, Copy Editor and Editorial Writer
Jon Garelick is a multiplatform editor for the Globe opinion pages and a member of the Editorial Board. He joined the Globe in March 2015. A graduate of Boston University, he was previously arts editor of the Boston Phoenix, where he worked for 22 years, until its closing in March 2013. He is the winner of two ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards for his writing about music, and an award from the New England Press Association for news reporting.
Contact: [email protected].
Diane Hessan, Contributing Columnist
Diane Hessan is a serial entrepreneur, researcher and investor. She is Founder and Chairman of C Space, a market research technology company was one of the hottest companies in Boston’s innovation economy for the last decade, and which led to her work helping America to understand the electorate. In addition to being a columnist for The Boston Globe, Diane co-authored the best-selling book Customer-Centered Growth, and she serves on a range of boards, including Panera, Eastern Bank, Brightcove, Tufts University, Beth Israel Deaconess, and Mass Challenge. She has a BA from Tufts and an MBA from Harvard.
Rachelle G. Cohen, Contributing Editorial Writer
Rachelle G. Cohen was the long-time editorial page editor of the Boston Herald and a political columnist for the paper. In that capacity she has reported from seven national political conventions, five presidential inaugurations as well as foreign assignments in Nicaragua, the Balkans, Russia and the Middle East.
Prior to joining the Herald she worked for the Associated Press, including a stint as head of the AP’s Massachusetts State House Bureau, and for the Lowell Sun. She also taught journalism as an adjunct professor at Suffolk University for five years. Cohen has lectured internationally on government transparency, free press and the interdependence of an independent judiciary and a free press in Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Macedonia and is a frequent lecturer on those topics to international delegations visiting Boston under the auspices of the U.S. State Department.
She has served as co-chair of the Supreme Judicial Court’s Judiciary-Media Committee and on the board of the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health.