The St. Albert Gazette, like most newspapers, has a number of policies in place to ensure all who deal with the organization are treated fairly, and that no undue influence, whether intended or not, is exerted.
Municipal elections are the most important elections Gazette readers participate in because municipal politics affect residents more than provincial and federal governments, simply put. Municipal policies and bylaws affect residents every single day, whether it’s school schedules, student behaviour, garbage pick-up, roads and traffic, zoning, dog tags or your tax bill.
Because these elections are so important, it’s equally important that a newspaper have rules in place for how candidates appear in the Gazette and how the election campaign is followed.
First and foremost, no letters to the editor promoting any candidate will be printed before the election in October. It’s common practice in some campaigns to flood newspapers with anonymous or form letters stating “Vote for so-and-so.” The letters page in the Gazette is a forum for community issues, not a campaign platform for those interested in municipal office.
Second, each candidate will be interviewed by the Gazette after declaring his or her intention to seek office , and will be asked identical questions; the questions may vary between urban and rural candidates, or school board candidates. The candidate interviews will be conducted as timely as possible, though schedules may prohibit all candidates for one particular race appearing in the same issue of the Gazette.
If a candidate, for whatever reason, declines to be interviewed by the Gazette or does not respond to reasonable requests for an interview before the election is over, reasonable attempts will be made to include a candidate profile in the Gazette anyway. Subsequent interviews will be issues-based as the campaigns progress through to election day.
Third, the Gazette will make every reasonable effort to attend all legitimate candidates’ forums. In the context of a municipal election, “legitimate” is defined as an open, moderated public forum where all candidates running have been invited. We do not define promotional appearances, individual campaigning and closed, one-candidate forums as legitimate and they will not necessarily be covered as election news by the Gazette.
Of course, the Gazette would like to remind readers paid advertising from candidate campaigns comes from the campaigns themselves; paid advertisements are not news copy and should not be confused as such.
We look forward to a vigorous issues-based campaign and wish all candidates in the upcoming municipal and school board elections the best. The Gazette encourages all citizens, urban and rural, and everyone eligible to vote in school trustee elections, to mark Monday, October 21 on your calendar and exercise your democratic right.
