Ynetnews has created a new channel of opinion, commentary and analysis articles we are calling "Public Access."
The point of this channel is to provide individuals and organizations additional opportunities to express their thoughts on current political, social, economic and cultural issues of the day involving Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. Our own articles and essays on Ynetnews are also fair game for comment - pro or con. For those of you with a newspaper-centric view of the world, think of it as a larger and more interactive form of letters to the editor.
We have been gratified to receive a large number of article submissions from all over the globe in our first few months, and we have published some of them so far. "Public Access" will give us additional space to publish and present items written by you. "Public Access" is a part of our Opinion channel, which already features a wide range of writers from Israel and the Diaspora.
We at Ynetnews believe in keeping an open line of communication with readers, and in offering you a chance to express your positions to us, each other and to the world. It's the thinking behind our popular "Talkback" feature, which permits comments directly on individual articles. We have received more than 10,000 Talkbacks in the last few months, and the pace at which they are arriving has only increased.
"Public Access" allows readers and writers to take more space than the Talkback feature permits, and to craft their arguments more carefully and persuasively.
"Public Access" is open to discussions on all topics, but we will occasionally solicit your responses on specific questions, with the idea of compiling the best-written and most compelling arguments for publication together.
We are going to keep the rules for getting into the "Public Access" column few:
- Maximum length - 750 words (We're strict about that.). But shorter is better. Even 250 well-argued words is better than a longer piece that fails to make a point.
- Send all contributions through our Red Mail system, which provides proper publication clearance forms.
- No personal attacks or libelous statements.
- No hate speech, calls to violence or racist comments.
- Writers must properly identify themselves and give their full names, place of residence, contact information and professional affiliation or credentials.
- Writers will be limited to appearing no more than once every month (Please note: There are no limits on the number of Talkbacks you can write, so keep those coming!).
We look forward to receiving your comments and to seeing the Talkbacks they provoke.
