20241114 📧 “Following up on pitch / request” from Sojo
Hello Logan,
My name is Josiah and I am the sr. associate opinion editor for sojo[dot]net. Elizabeth Denlinger Reaves forwarded your pitch to me, and I have reviewed it. We are going to decline it, but thank you for sending it to us.
In the future, please send all pitches here to this address (opinion@sojo.net). Elizabeth has no influence on the pieces that Sojourners publishes, as we have full editorial independence.
It often takes us longer than we’d like to respond to pitches. This is due to a number of factors – the main one being our constant commitment to keep up with the news cycle. Nonetheless, feel free to pitch here.
@ 1420 to Daniels
Thank you for informing me.
@ 1610 to Daniels
I am following up because the language of your email suggested you assumed I was taking advantage of an old friendship to improve my chances at getting published and I wanted to set the record straight. I'm CCing Liz so we can all be on the same page.
I wasn't trying to "influence" anyone. An editor's bread and butter is words, which is why I expect more careful language from someone working as one professionally. I went out on a limb trusting the culture at Sojo had changed, but it hasn't changed at all since the last time I wrote for Sojourners 13 years ago.
I won't be pitching you anymore because I do not deserve to be humiliated for trying to work within a biased system. You, or someone monitoring opinion@sojo ignored my last email, in August. When I asked for guidance from an employee about whether something fit more in News or Opinion, I get accused of trying to circumvent a system that already disadvantages minorities such as myself.
Christ only told us to "turn the other cheek" once, but he said "woe to you hypocrites" six times. That checks out.
