about

The Free Press is a student-run newspaper and blog started in 2009 at Florida State University. Our purpose is to promote dialogue and discourse about the benefits of classical liberal ideas (free markets, individual liberty, small government, etc.) in promoting a free, open, and prosperous society. We welcome people and ideas from a wide range of political perspectives in order to promote debate on these topics. We are looking for writers of any political leaning from any university. Please use the contact link above if you are interested, or have any other comments/questions.

Executive Editor: George Johnson

Assistant Editor: Matthew Allen Miller 

Web Editor: Patrick O'Sullivan

Co-Founder: Tom Laughlin

Co-Founder: Amar Ali

Co-Founder: Hunter Carter

Below includes information you should consider if interested in writing for The Free Press.

Here at The Free Press we are always looking for more contributors. If you are interested in writing for The Free Press please e-mail our staff at thefreepress.fsu@gmail.com, or simply use the contact link above.

When you contact our staff you can let them know what type of article you are interested in submitting: a online blog-style post, or a printed feature article (printed editions are published twice a month during the Fall and Spring, and once a month in the Summer).

If you are writing an online blog post and it is your first to third time contributing please keep your entry under 1500 words. When your article is finished, e-mail it to our staff and they will post it. After you have contributed 3 online posts, the editorial staff will decide whether to provide you with instant blog access so you can upload your postings without prior approval.

If you are submitting a feature article for our print edition, the article will need to be e-mailed to our editor by the due date for that specific issue. Also, we have discontinued our thematic approach in our printed issues. For printed issues contributors are highly encouraged to pick topics that are timely to current events and political discussions. One example would be the oil spill in the gulf.  E-mail us for more information.

Finally, our print editions are usually four pages long. So this means you should avoid penning large treatises for print. Most print articles will be from 400-700 words. However, each edition usually has an article that is 900-1200 words. If you plan on writing a longer article, please clear this with the editor first.

 There several things you should keep in mind when writing for us.

First, and most importantly, we at The Free Press value ideas above all else. In this light, please write as an advocate of ideas, rather than individuals or political parties. What this means is that you should not advocate for a specific person or party but ideas instead. We find this approach is best because it avoids personal attacks (or conversely, hagiographical type writing) that distracts the reader from the actual idea that you are trying to convey or promote.

Also, we at the The Free Press tend to advocate from a classical liberal standpoint (although we embrace libertarianism, market-anarchism, liberalism, conservatism, progressive and social democratic standpoints). However, when writing for us, please do not advocate from a Republican Party or Democratic Party standpoint. Also, again, please do not attack (and make strawmen of) conservatives, liberals, anarchists, or any other political ideology or group. Advocating for an abstract idea or position is one thing, but when you are being critical of an idea or position please be SPECIFIC about what you are being critical about.

Second, be clear and concise. Avoid rambling prose and run-on sentences. One thing that is very important is that the reader should understand your position and the topic of the article by the time they are done reading the first paragraph.

Third, for first time blog posts and all featured articles, the editors will scrutinize your contributions. Please do not be offended if editors make changes. Most of the time editors will edit sentence structure and try to improve the organization and readability of the article. If you would like to avoid changes to your writing, please proof-read it several times and wait a day or two after you have finished so that you can re-read your article with fresh eyes before submitting it to the editor.