
University of Ottawa law prof, Elizabeth Sheehy, regularly shares her analysis through the media.
… of the news story, that is.
It’s a great strategy to increase your likelihood of publication: if you know that a research report, government announcement or legal decision is about to be released, and your informed opinion about the issue can offer insightful context and analysis, contacting op ed page editors in advance of the breaking news can:
1. Demonstrate to editors that you’re on top of the news in your field, and therefore a valuable resource;
2. Let them know that you can provide a topical op ed in advance of the story breaking, allowing them to have something in the paper immediately afterwards;
3. Give them the opportunity to save space for the piece;
4. Save you the trouble of writing something entirely on spec, only to be told when you submit it that the paper has already agreed to run someone else’s reflections on the same issue.
Last week, University of Ottawa law profs, Liz Sheehy and Carissima Mathen contacted Ottawa Citizen op ed page editor David Watson, offering to write an op ed about an about-to-be-released Supreme Court decision. This advance notice was a win on all fronts:
Watson knew that he’d have a timely piece written by two experts within hours of the decision on a controversial case being released, and Sheehy and Mathen knew that their analysis would be published.
You can read Battered women’s defences still in question in today’s Citizen, in print or online, and as of Monday, it will go up on Informed Opinions’ site alongside more than 75 other commentary interventions made by women experts who’ve participated in our workshops.

University of Ottawa Law prof, Carissima Mathen has also written numerous op eds.
Informed Opinions salutes the regular media engagement of both Sheehy (who also serves on our Advisory Committee), and her colleague Carissima Mathen: they frequently provide thoughtful journalists and the broader public with informed analyses of justice issues.
“It’s not about you”
Will Dena McMartin’s recent op ed in the Regina Leader-Post
help prevent a flooding disaster and save lives?
It just might.
And even if it doesn’t, the informed analysis of the University of Regina professor of environmental systems engineering offered citizens valuable and timely information about her city’s pending spring thaw.
At the same time, its existence underlines one of the key messages of the workshops and guest lectures Informed Opinions delivers:
Because we’ve found that’s the best way to motivate educated, articulate, expert women who decline media interview requests because they don’t cherish the limelight or want to be seen as promoting themselves.
First we invite them to share some of the specific changes they’d like to see in the world. Then, after we’ve filled a whiteboard with their goals for greater social equity, better environmental sustainability, and more comfortable footwear (ok, that’s just me), we point out that media engagement is one way to amplify their voices, increase their power, and make it easier for them to bring about the changes they seek.
Being reminded of the bigger picture — the potential for enhanced impact on an issue that has significant implications for the lives of others — makes all the difference.