EDITORIAL: Guidelines for letters, press releases.
By:
In the spirit of fairness to all candidates and with an eye toward providing the best service to readers, this newspaper has established a set of ground rules for news coverage of local election campaigns.
Under the guidelines, this newspaper commits to certain elements of news coverage. It will write stories before the deadlines for filing petitions of nomination, to give all citizens adequate notice of the opportunity to participate. It will give background information on all known major 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 key political events such as candidate nights, fundraisers, appointments of key campaign personnel, major political endorsements and the like in news stories or in wrap-up columns.
In addition, this newspaper will strive to stimulate discussion of the issues during election campaigns through independent research and initiative articles.
News releases and campaign position statements from candidates are always welcome. They will be used at the editor’s discretion as resource material by the staff as it prepares well-balanced, issue-oriented news stories throughout the course of the campaign. Position statements from candidates can be printed in the "Candidates Corner" column, and will be developed as stories if the issues raised in them merit treatment.
Story use, timing and treatment are entirely at the discretion of the local managing editor.
Every effort will be made to avoid the initial raising of controversial or sensational issues in the final edition before an election.
The "letters to the editor" column will be monitored closely during campaign seasons in an effort to reserve this space for issue oriented discussion among readers. Letters from candidates and their representatives will be considered campaign statements unless their only purpose is to object to news coverage of the campaign.
Naturally, all letters will be subject to editing. During the election season, letters will be limited to 200 words.
The aim is to focus on what the potential voter needs to know, not on what the candidates want to say. As a result of attempts to take this approach in the past we have heard some complaints from political activists who feel this policy limits their ability to communicate with the voting public.
These guidelines reflect the reader service objectives of all Packet newspapers in local elections, school and municipal. Comments on them are welcome and will be considered for the future as this newspaper 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 Editorial Board, The Princeton Packet Inc., Box 350, Princeton, N.J. 08542.

