EDITORIAL: Campaign coverage puts readers first

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, including providing background information on all known local candidates in an upcoming edition.
    News releases and candidates’ position statements (including candidates’ letters to the editor) are always welcome. They will be used at the editor’s discretion as resource material for stories written by the staff or in the Letters to the Editor section. Story use, timing and treatment are entirely at the discretion of the local managing editor.
    The primary focus in our letter column is candidates and issues in local elections. Form letters or duplicate copies of letters sent by multiple writers will not be published. Letters from residents of towns outside of our coverage area will generally not be published unless they make specific reference to the municipalities covered in this newspaper: Bordentown City, Bordentown Township, Fieldsboro, Chesterfield, Florence, Mansfield, New Hanover, North Hanover and Springfield.
    Every effort will be made to avoid the initial raising of controversial or sensational issues in the final edition before the election. That week’s edition is known as the “rebuttal” week edition, when only comments by readers and candidates on issues previously raised in this newspaper will be permitted. For this year’s election, the rebuttal issue will be Oct. 30.
    The Letters to the Editor column will be monitored closely during this campaign season in an effort to reserve this space for issue-oriented discussion among readers. All letters — which should be no longer than 500 words in length — will be subject to editing and must be signed by the writer. A phone number for confirmation must be included. Phone numbers will not be published.
    Letters in excess of 500 words will be cut at the managing editor’s discretion but may be returned to the letter writer for rewriting if they are submitted a day or more in advance of the deadline. Letters must be received by 5 p.m. Monday in the week they are to be published. If space constraints prevent all letters from appearing in the week for which they were submitted, they will be published the following week.
    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., P.O. Box 350, Princeton 08542.