Our practices for running the guest article program have shifted meaningfully, and the specific changes are worth naming.
We tightened our fact-checking standard for guest contributions
Early guest pieces sometimes received lighter fact-checking scrutiny than our own staff-written content. We now apply the same factual rigor to guest contributions.
We started pushing contributors toward more specific claims more consistently
We've made the specific-example revision request a more standard part of our guest article editing process, since it reliably produces stronger, more substantive final pieces.
We became more willing to run pieces we disagree with
We've deliberately pushed to include more genuinely challenging perspectives in our guest selection, provided they meet our standards for rigor and specificity.
Why this evolution matters
We think a guest article program only serves readers well if it maintains real editorial standards regardless of who's writing, and we take that discipline seriously even when it means more editing work per piece.