The Ideas Lab is the opinion section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Our team creates and curates contributed commentary to help you learn, understand and shape your own views on what’s happening in Wisconsin.
We’re launching a newsletter, Idea Exchange, to deliver the best writing and sharpest perspectives, hitting your inbox on Sunday mornings when many have a chance to catch their breath and catch up on stuff they might have missed during a hectic week. Idea Exchange is a word play on the Ideas Lab name and mission to share thoughtful commentary about how to build a better Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
The newsletter will also feature exclusive insights from our own D.L. Davis on what is driving the conversation in Milwaukee and across Wisconsin. In addition, she will offer a look ahead at the columns and letters to the editor that will be posting in the coming week and occasionally ask you to share your views, as she did (and is still seeking) on the nation’s 250th birthday. We’ll publish those letters over the Fourth of July weekend.
Idea Exchange newsletter: Sign up here
The newsletter will include the work of columnists James E. Causey and Kristin Brey. Causey is a prolific writer and storyteller with a sharp focus on Milwaukee. He moderates many events across the community, volunteers and mentors youth and contributes to the Center for Health Journalism at USC and Black Nouveau on Milwaukee PBS.
Brey started solely as a video columnist and now shares her talents on screen and in text. She also cohosts “Point Taken” on WTMJ radio. You might have noted the recent absence of her work at the Journal Sentinel. She is working on a project that will launch this fall, just in time for the midterm elections. A sneak peak: It is a timely collaboration with a longtime partner that to date has included 84 interviews across Wisconsin.
How did the Ideas Lab get its name? What is your mission?
The Journal Sentinel adopted the Ideas Lab moniker in 2017 to signify a transition away from traditional newspaper opinion pages that focused heavily on daily editorials and institutional voices to one designed to “inform the public through a solutions journalism framework and to engage with the public through a combination of online tools and in-person events,” as my predecessor David Haynes explained at the time.
Nearly a decade later, solutions remain integral to our work. For instance, regular contributor Brian Reisinger, who offers a more conservative perspective, recently wrote about how artificial intelligence could wreak havoc on rural areas. He also filed a companion column outlining ways in which the worst scenarios for the rural workforce could be avoided.
While we’ve moved into a new era with things such as videos for social media, there are some old-school elements that have seen a resurgence, namely letters to the editor. The growth of social media commenting nearly made letters extinct. Why waste time and effort composing something succinct and thought-provoking when you can instantly sound off?
Turns out it is precisely that effort which makes letters to the editor indispensable in an era of instant and sometimes toxic world of online discourse. We’ve doubled the space for letters in print and are happy to keep growing.
The second part of our mission is engaging the public through events. This is a rapidly growing and significant part of our community-focused journalism. In this case, it is taking journalism from a noun or adjective and turning it into a verb. This is an active exercise that has seen the Journal Sentinel partnering on a neighborhood cleanup, hosting a unique conversation about firearm safety and gathering experts to answer community questions about data centers.
Next month alone, you can join us for a conversation with our Milwaukee Brewers beat reporters as the team heads out of the All Star break (5 to 7 p.m., July 23, Indeed Brewing Company) and at a town hall where voters can ask candidates for governor their questions about data centers (5:30 to 8:30 p.m., July 29, Turner Hall Ballroom).
Get free tickets: Meet Milwaukee Brewers beat reporters
Register for event: Data center town hall with candidates for governor
Your perspectives fuel the Ideas Lab. Here’s how to submit.
We encourage community members to submit letters to the editor and guest columns, sometimes called op-eds. We’re always looking to expand the range of voices and perspectives.
What’s the difference? Letters to the Editor are capped at about 200 words. The best are short, often witty and all should include sources where information comes from. Op-eds are longer, about 750 words, and the bar is higher for the quality of arguments and sourcing. But don’t let that scare you away. We’re happy to work with writers and provide feedback.
Here’s how to submit: Tips for getting your views published in the Journal Sentinel
What we don’t accept is mass produced work not expressly written for Journal Sentinel readers. We get hundreds of submissions and reject work aimed at hundreds of outlets. Our aim is to curate the best work. The Idea Exchange newsletter is another way to help busy people keep up on the latest news and commentary.
Jim Fitzhenry is the Ideas Lab Editor/Director of Community Engagement for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Reach him at jfitzhen@gannett.com or 920-993-7154.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Our best takes. Your inbox. Welcome to Idea Exchange. | Opinion
Reporting by James N. Fitzhenry, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By James N. Fitzhenry, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
