ei: Submit Content to the Electronic Intifada

QUICK SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Please read the full text on this page if you intend to submit material to EI. For those familliar with EI's Content Submission Guidelines, here are the main points for quick reference:

Text should arrive as plain e-mail, MS Word document, or other word processor document saved in RTF format.

All submissions must include a short 2-3 line bio.

Submissions with well-captioned photos that you took or have permission to use are appreciated.

Write FOR PUBLICATION or SUBMISSION somewhere in the e-mail subject box before sending to EI's contact address.

INTRODUCTION

The Electronic Intifada (EI) welcomes unsolicited text and visual contributions from writers, photographers, multimedia content creators, and film-makers to any of its content feeds. EI puts a high priority on well written original analysis and reportage, contributions from people on the ground in Palestine, and strong visual imagery.

EI runs the most popular alternative news website on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, receiving anywhere between 150,000 and 750,000 unique visitors a month depending on the status of the conflict. On any day, most of the editing, illustrating, publishing, and promotional burden is carried by 2-3 people on a largely voluntary basis. Whatever you can do to ensure submissions require minimal processing is appreciated. Please read this page carefully before submitting material to EI.

Implicit understanding: By submitting your work to EI, you are giving us a non-exclusive right to use the material on our website and in multimedia presentations (ie. Video, DVD) in perpetuity. If you wish to republish the article after it has been on EI, please ensure the publication notes this and offers a link to EI. In the case of submissions of material published elsewhere, please let us know where and when the article was published so we can do the same. Do not submit material that you do not hold the rights to.

As a web-only publisher seeking to reach the maximum possible audience with limited resources, one of our strategies is to seek reprints of EI articles in print formats -- newspapers, magazines, and newsletters. By submitting material to EI, your material may also end up in friendly print publications, which will increase both your and our own visibility. This does not apply to photographic submissions, where EI will guide publications directly to the photographer.

EI articles are not removed from our server. We believe that this archive adds to the value of EI. We may edit your piece for clarity, grammar, and brevity. If our edits are going to substantially change the meaning of a piece, we will of course ask you first. Headline, summary and illustration decisions are made solely by EI's editors although feel free to suggest a headline.

GENERAL NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS

What we like - Contributions that have strong factual information, that are written compellingly, display good research and background knowledge, make sense, and where possible include images to illustrate them.

Don't expect to be paid - EI does not have the resources to pay contributors at this time, but we do credit your work and can offer a link to your website and pass on correspondence relating to your contribution. Good writing is its own reward. Many of EI's contributors have seen their work republished in books, they have been interviewed in the media, and typically use their work on our site as a portfolio.

Submit finished material - Material that requires extensive editing is less likely to be published. Spell-check and review your work carefully before submitting it. Please don't send us endless revisions once you have submitted it. If you can provide images to accompany your article that you are entitled to use, this also increases its chances of getting published.

Don't submit to multiple websites - Where possible, please don't submit your material to multiple alternative news websites. EI prefers original content. This works to everyone's advantage. EI is committed to a high standard of professional presentation of content you don't see elsewhere. One of the reasons EI's website gets such a high visitor rate is that we publish a high percentage of original content which has a direct impact on Google and other search engine rankings.

Article Length - PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT ARTICLES OVER 3,000 WORDS. For regular articles, 600-2,000 words is an acceptable length, although 600-1200 words is more standard. If you're at the low end, at least a single image will be necessary to make the text stretch to the bottom of the right-hand navigation bar. If you're at the higher end, one image per 700 words is a decent proportion. If you have a good reason to write a longer piece, then please consider breaking it up into a couple of pieces.

Text Format - EI prefers plain text, Word, or RTF document submissions in e-mail with clear captioning of any photographs following, a brief bio (see below), and any images attached to the e-mail. Footnotes are fine if: (i) there are only a few, or (ii) you send us the article in plain text with body footnotes rendered as numbers in square brackets following the insert point, eg.

...noted John Pilger writing in The Guardian. [1]

The bottom footnotes should appear after the article as numbers followed by a period, eg.

1. "Why my film is under fire", John Pilger, The Guardian, 23 September 2002.

Include a bio - Please include 2-3 lines explaining who you are, where you are, and focuses on facts relevant to, and your experience of, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

eg. Laura Gordon is a 20-year-old American Jew who came to Israel in December 2002 with the Birthright Israel program and proceeded, three months later, to begin work with the International Solidarity Movement in Rafah. She moved to Rafah two days after Rachel Corrie was killed and has been there since. She works primarily in media work and documentation; and also to liase between the Rafah community and the international community through summer camp projects, cooperative building projects, and English teaching. is long but informative and helps you understand more about Laura.

eg. Shannon Dow volunteered with CEPAL in the Palestinian refugee camps of Bourj al Barajneh and Shatila in 2001, and is currently in Montreal. is fine but could have spelled out what CEPAL is (a Canadian-Palestinian educational exchange programme) and included Shannon's nationality.

Prohibited content - While EI seeks to protect the integrity of your work, we will not publish content that encourages discrimination against any race, ethnic group, religion, or gender. We similarly will not publish clumsy, demagogic material as this level of discourse has no value in generating understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Please do not submit material that you do not hold the copyright for.

Submissions are not acknowledged - Please note that EI cannot acknowledge submissions due to current operating constraints. We cannot offer critiques of your submission unless we intend to print it and feel it needs some work in parts. Do not write and ask us "why?" a piece was not published. Often, the reason is a simple lack of time, so please do not take the non-appearance of your submission personally. If you've sent us 5 pieces with no response, perhaps it's time to take up another pursuit.

Following is a list of EI content sections, detailing section-specific contribution information.

NEWS & ANALYSIS

Opinion/Editorial - EI typically prefers that submissions to its Opinion/Editorial section come from known writers or people representing organisations. The reason for this is that opinion pieces are a very common format of submission to EI, and many people mistakenly assume that these contributions need only be opinion, with no factual or analytical content. This is not the case. We like our Opinion/Editorial section to offer sound arguments backed up by solid examples.

Live from Palestine - Our diaries section is open to anyone living in or visiting Palestine. Rich descriptions and anecdotal experiences that taught you something about life in Palestine are welcome. Endless ranting about how bad life there is not welcome. It's fine to express frustration but try to inform as well as offer opinion. Feel free to quote transliterated Arabic if it is translated immediately afterwards into English. Our preferred system is to offer the Arabic first, in italics, followed by an English translation in brackets.

eg. Mish Ma'ool ("Unbelievable") said the man standing next to me as his permit application was denied, adding to the soldier, Fish fi 'albak rahmi! ("There is no mercy in your heart!").

Similarly, please do correct Arabinglish/Englabic into actual English. As long as you're not changing the meaning of what the person said, it is acceptable to truncate quotes and change words for clarity. Photos are especially important for diary entries. If you can send them, please do.

Human Rights - Any contributions that bring understanding of the human rights situation are welcomed. Compelling testimonies from prisoners, analysis of how Israel is violating particular human rights (eg. the use of Palestinians as human shields during house searches), interviews with human rights organisations about their work, diaries of human rights workers, legislative developments impacting human rights. Articles about both Palestinian and Israeli violations against either community are welcomed, although these should relate to the conflict, eg. Israel's treatment of African-Israeli citizens is not particularly related to the conflict.

Development - Articles about aid, aid workers, development indicators (poverty, water issues, etc), aid organisations, aid projects, etc., all welcomed. Articles on both Palestinian governmental progress and corruption also welcomed.

Israel Lobby Watch - This section offers glimpses into the machinations of the pro-Israeli lobby worldwide. Good analysis and reportage of developments, organisational positions and inconsistencies are welcomed. Reports about US aid to Israel and stories of pressures on government and the media are welcome. Stories about worldwide Jewish conspiracies will be filed in the trash.

Internet & Technology - Contributions that review websites in themes (eg. what various online news sites are worth visiting for information about Palestine or a round-up of sites offering refugee information), developments that affect the Palestinian IT sector, news articles about development of that sector, etc.

Business & Economy - Any articles about Palestinian business, economy, the stock exchange, etc., are welcomed although self-promotional material is discouraged.

THE MEDIA

Role of the Media - Any articles that look at how the media and Israeli-Palestinian conflict interelate.

Coverage Trends - Analysis of coverage patterns in international, national media, and specific newspapers/networks.

Journalists in Danger - Any material that is interesting and relates to Israeli or Palestinian violence against the media or censorship is welcomed.

EI in the Press - If we're mentioned somewhere and it's not on our feed, let us know.

ACTION & ACTIVISM

Activism News - Reports of actions and campaigns, demonstration diaries, analysis of the pro-Palestinian activist community, interviews of activists about their experience -- all welcomed.

Action Items - Substantive action items only, rather than ones that complain about a single word in a single article. Must be well argued and clear headed.

Letters to the Media - Good letters to the media on substantive topics are accepted, although this section has primarily served as an archive for EI founders' letters to date.

EI EXTRA

Arts, Music & Culture - Reviews, interviews, and articles about Palestinian and pro-Palestinian films, music, books, plays, etc., all welcomed.

Bassaleh News Network (BNN) - Humor is hard to pull off. Having said that, have a go. Text, graphics, look-alike images of Israeli-Palestinian figures and others, all welcome. Check out the Al-Bassaleh archive for the kind of tone we are looking for.

Multimedia - Short Quicktime video clips, audio interviews, multimedia presentations of any Israeli-Palestinian Conflict-related material. Please do not send Powerpoint or Flash presentations unless they are outstanding. We are tired of gazing at overforwarded, bandwidth sucking files that offer only animated dripping blood, luridly flashing titles invoking the 'Zionist Entity', set on a backdrop of stolen AP photos, to the theme tune from the Titanic.

Letters to EI - This section is intended to function as Letters pages do in newspapers. If you are submitting a letter to EI, please keep it under 400 words, give us your name, phone number and e-mail address, and let us know that the letter is intended for the Letters to EI feed. This helps us distinguish what is intended as private comment from what is intended for publication.

GUIDELINES FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC SUBMISSIONS

EI desperately needs stock images of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to illustrate articles. Photographers are credited and links offered to their websites if they have one. If you have been to Palestine and have a collection of photos, we would be grateful if you would allow us to use them through our site. Ronald de Hommel, a Dutch photojournalist, and Musa Al-Shaer, a Palestinian photojournalist, have both allowed EI to use material which often appear in stories around the site which has greatly enhanced the visual quality of many of our articles.

General format requirements - Images should be submitted digitally via e-mail to EI. If the images are coming from a digital camera or scan, please do not edit them down in size. Please do not send images in excess of 4MB unless you have made arrangements with us. JPGs or TIFF format is preferred. Please caption images clearly, including what is depicted in the image, the place the image was taken, and give the date of the image (where possible). If you have a website that you would like us to link to from your credit, please do send us a link.

Photo Stories - EI has a powerful multimedia server and is happy to receive photographic contributions. In this case, please ignore size instructions in "General format requirements" above and try to match the following. Here is an example photo story (opens in new window). Full screen width is 483 pixels wide at 72 dpi (not for portrait orientation please), for the size that fits two across the screen, 235 pixels at 72 dpi (portrait or landscape orientation is fine). Please Save For Web (note: not Save As) from Photoshop/Image Ready/Fireworks or a comparable application to minimise file size at a rate of about 40% quality or whatever does not degrade visual quality of the image. If you can't do this, we are perfectly content that you submit photos at full size in accordance with "General format requirements" above. Please make sure your captions of any photos intended to sit next to each other are comparable in length.