March 1, 2026

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First Opinion editor

People interested in writing for First Opinion often ask: How do your headlines work? So I thought I'd share a little bit about that.

At many publications, op-ed writers don't get to weigh in on or even see a headline before publication. To be frank, I've never totally understood this. I think it's partially to avoid getting into an extended back-and-forth with the author, and maybe also to give the writer plausible deniability: If your peers don't like the headline, you can honestly say "Don't blame me, my terrible editor wrote it."

I always show authors their headlines before publication. I think that it's important to give the writer an opportunity to share concerns or even let me know that I've misunderstood some element of the argument. (When that happens, we usually go back to the piece to make light changes before publication.)

It's also worth noting that STAT, like all publications, uses several different headlines. There's the main one on the article page, with a subhead (or dek, in journalism jargon) below it. But we also write a few other ones that appear in various combinations on social media, Google, and Google News. If you really care, email me and I'll give you a guided tour.

Now, will I use the headline you wrote when you submitted a piece to me? Probably not. A lot of considerations go into a headline: We want to make a human click on it, yes, but we also have to think about social media and search engine optimization.

That means using lots of keywords and avoiding vagaries — no "The path forward on health care" or anything like that, because no one will click on it and Google won't surface it. What good is a great op-ed if no one reads it?

But I will take your thoughts into consideration and often agree to tweaks. I think it's crucial to establishing trust between us — and as an editor, I want to earn my writers' trust.

P.S. Still not a STAT+ member? If you subscribe now you get a free tote. I'm jealous — I'm a sucker for a tote.

Recommendation of the week: The first episode of the new season of "Paradise" on Hulu, set amid a cataclysmic event and its aftermath, is some of the best television I've seen in a long time. It left me all shook up.

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