Campaign policy puts readers first

EDITORIAL: The Herald outlines its ground rules for fall campaign coverage and for letter and column submissions concerning elections.

   In the spirit of fairness to all candidates and with an eye toward providing the best service to our readers, the Windsor-Hights Herald has established a set of ground rules for news coverage of local election campaigns.
   Under the guidelines, the Herald commits to certain elements of news coverage. It will give background information on all known candidates, including stories on the basic positions taken by each, and it will write news stories on the issues raised during the campaign.
   It also will list local key political events such as candidate nights, fund-raisers, appointments of key campaign personnel, major political endorsements and the like in news stories or in the "What’s Going On …" calendar.
   In addition, we will strive to stimulate discussion of the issues during election campaigns through independent research and initiative articles.
   When appropriate, editorial endorsements will be considered for local council elections. In all cases in which we decide to endorse local candidates, endorsements will be based on interviews that include at least one member of the editing staff. Endorsements of candidates will be published at least two issues before any election, leaving the final week for rebuttal.
   The Herald will not endorse any candidates in county or state elections.
   News releases and campaign position statements from candidates are always welcome. They will be used at the managing editor’s discretion as resource material by the staff as it prepares well-balanced, issue-oriented news stories throughout the course of the local campaigns. Releases from candidates will not be printed as such, but will be developed as news stories if the issues raised in them merit such treatment.
   Story use, timing and treatment are entirely at the discretion of the managing editor.
   Every effort will be made to avoid the initial raising of controversial or sensational issues in the final edition before an election in either news stories or letters to the editor.
   The "Letters to the editor" column will be monitored closely during the campaign season in an effort to reserve this space for local, issue-oriented discussion among readers. Letters from candidates and their representatives will be considered campaign statements and will be placed in a separate "Election forum" column marked with a tagline clearly identifying the candidate or the writer’s connection to the candidate’s campaign. As per our letters policy, all letters and columns will be subject to editing.
   These guidelines reflect the reader service objectives of all Packet Group newspapers in local elections, school and municipal. Comments on them are welcome and will be considered for the future as the Herald continues to re-evaluate its policies and practices in an effort to produce the most useful news product possible for its readers.
   Please address comments to T.J. Furman, managing editor, Windsor-Hights Herald, P.O. Box 1449, Hightstown, N.J. 08520.