Don't just go to the same old pundits. For factual articles, include conflicting sources or both sides of the issue to provide balance. Include contact information for sources along with your article, so that we can make an in-house fact check if necessary. Sources may be anonymous in an article, but we need to know who they are. Follow basic University of Chicago or Associated Press styles, and use good grammar.
Consistency is important.
Your editor doesn't care whether you use the serial comma or not, as long as it's used the same way throughout the piece. There are no sacred cows, no sacred commas. Section editors will keep author's original submission together with the edited version. Articles raising major questions or requiring substantive revisions will be returned to the author with queries and corrections. Editors will meet with authors to work together on article revisions if so desired.