An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece typically published by a newspaper or magazine which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. Op-eds are different from both editorials (opinion pieces submitted by editorial board members) and letters to the editor (opinion pieces submitted by readers).
== Origin ==
The direct ancestor of the modern op-ed page was created in 1921 by Herbert Bayard Swope of The New York Evening World. When Swope took over as editor in 1920, he realized that the page opposite...