Dave Nussbaum on the art of producing and pitching op-eds, the structure of the ideas piece, and the opportunities and challenges of writing popular social psychology

David Nussbaum is a social psychologist who works at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, and other outlets, and he is the editor of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology blog, Character and Context, as well as a co-founder and President of the nascent non-profit, Psychgeist. He has for years supported psychologists and other academics as they work to develop, pitch, and publish their popular writing. On this episode, he sits down with James Ryerson to discuss the origin of this niche which bridges the worlds of media and scientific research, his thoughts on how to pitch and frame op-eds, and the common structures (and pitfalls) of the "ideas" piece. You can find Prof. Nussbaum on Twitter at @davenuss79, Line Edit at @the_line_edit, and Joseph Fridman at @joseph_fridman.

Om Podcasten

Line Edit, supported by the John Templeton Foundation and hosted by long-time editor James Ryerson, is a show about writing short pieces for wide audiences about the big questions. Ryerson has been an editor at the New York Times since 2003, and before that, edited pieces for Legal Affairs, Lingua Franca, and Feed. On each episode of Line Edit, Ryerson sits down with an academic to discuss the life cycle of a popular piece they've published, from conception to pitching, writing, editing, publication, and response. Along the way, they'll discuss advice for academics looking to communicate their work to the public, and dive into the details of the academic's background, current, and future work.