The Commentary page is a daily forum for ideas and opinions offered by an ideologically diverse array of journalists and other members of the community. Unlike editorials, which reflect the thoughts of the editorial board, the pieces that appear on this page represent the views of the respective authors.

Syndicated columnists
To give readers widely divergent views on policy issues, the Tribune purchases the right to print the columns of writers from outside the newspaper. Their work is marketed to many newspapers by companies called press syndicates--hence the term "syndicated columnist." If gathered in one place, they wouldn't agree on whether Earth is round or flat, let alone how to resolve the many topics and problems on which they hope to sway readers' opinions.

Guest writers
Much of the strongest writing that appears on the Commentary page comes from guest writers who submit articles for publication. Some 100 of these arrive each day from around the world, addressing all manner of sober and not-so-serious topics from a variety of political viewpoints. Choosing submissions that have the clearest writing, most solid reasoning and interesting content is the job of the commentary editor.

Staff columnists
Members of the Tribune editorial board who write columns are free to disagree with the newspaper's editorial opinions on any subjects they choose. Because they're accustomed to writing about issues of special interest to Tribune readers, staff columnists based in Chicago and Washington often benefit from a personal awareness of this newspaper and its audience.

Illustrations
In addition to the cartoonists, 20 artists from across the nation craft illustrations for the opinion page. Sometimes they produce artwork requested by Tribune editors for the next morning's newspaper. But much of their task is the tricky business of anticipating which topics will be in the news in the near future.