Karen Peterson: 2016 race is on

It was the first thing I saw on TV the morning after Election Day — not results from the night before, but an ad asking viewers to thank U.S. Sen. Patty Murray for her work with local veterans.

It didn’t claim to be a campaign ad, but Murray is up for re-election next year. Clearly the race is on. Election Day 2016, here we come.

Informing the electorate is one of a local newspaper’s most important roles. It also draws the most vocal critics. This year’s election season was no exception.

Candidates and their supporters chided us for leaving out negative information about their opponents. They also accused us of rumor mongering for information we chose to include.

We make dozens of judgment calls when deciding what to publish about a candidate.

We try to stick to information that is relevant to the office sought. We want to include verifiable facts and statements from people in a position to know. We believe even candidates get to have private lives.

Among the information we didn’t include this year that was called into question: a violation for driving a scooter without a license, a personal bankruptcy from a candidate’s teen years, and police calls to a candidate’s house that didn’t result in charges.

Among the information we did include: teacher performance evaluations for a school board candidate who was touting his teaching experience. The story, intended for publication earlier in the campaign, didn’t publish until days before the election, which also was questioned. That happened only because we had to go to court to get the records after the candidate sued to keep them secret.

In each case, we talked with candidates and their opponents about why we published information or left it out. That didn’t make them any happier with us.

Our endorsement process — separate from our news coverage — also drew criticism. We continue it, particularly on local races, because we know readers often don’t have the chance to hear candidates speak directly, as they do with presidential candidates.

Our editorial board endorses Democrats in some races, Republicans in others, looking for the best candidates from among each field. As you might imagine, not everyone believes that.

Bias should stay out of our news coverage. A couple of readers contacted me with concerns about our story on the Oct. 28 presidential debate.

“You made a huge mistake,” one caller said. “You made your top article about the debate ... wrote it as an editorial. It is filled with ideas that are by the writer and not fact, just fact.”

I wouldn’t agree that the story was as opinionated as an editorial, but I think the reader made some good points.

There’s a fine line between describing what you see — a candidate “interrupted” — and saying a candidate “faded” or “failed.” The story certainly offered the writer’s analysis, if not his opinion.

We redoubled our efforts on the next debate to select a wire story with a straighter news approach. We also agreed to add an “Analysis” tag to election pieces when appropriate.

An odd, new problem has arisen in our local election coverage. Campaigns are stealing News Tribune photos online to use in their mailers.

Two years ago, a group pushing a ballot measure used a News Tribune picture as the backdrop for two fliers.

This year, a campaign took a screen grab from a News Tribune video and used it on a flyer. The offending candidate was surprised when we called, assuming if he found it in a Google search, it was his for the taking.

Nope.

TNT news photos belong to the TNT wherever you find them. We’re especially concerned, as you might imagine, when they appear in a political ad. We sent the campaigns a bill for $500 for each use.

Even with all the challenges of covering elections, we’re looking forward to 2016.

We’ll continue to focus on fact-checking local campaigns. Readers say they appreciate that.

We’re looking for ways to differentiate our voter guide from the state and county guides.

We may even host a presidential debate viewing party.

Know that we are doing our best to provide factual, unbiased election reporting on our news pages (while letting the opinions fly on our editorial pages). We love having readers who will call us out when they see otherwise.

If you have election coverage ideas for next year, please share them with us.

PUZZLE PAGE CHANGES

We have good news for readers who enjoy word games: We’re adding two new word puzzles to our daily lineup.

A few weeks ago, we added 7 Little Words. On Monday, we’ll add Celebrity Cypher, which has readers decode quotes from well-known people. We’ll also move the bridge column onto the puzzle page.

The new features are pushing Super Quiz to the TV page in our Classifieds section. We aren’t cutting it, but we are moving it.

Today in History and celebrity birthdays also appear on the TV page since our new design launched last week.

A couple of puzzle-page vendors are changing, as well.

We’ll run The New York Times daily crossword puzzle in place of the Los Angeles Times crossword. You’ll still get two crosswords a day, one that’s easier and one that’s more difficult. And we’ll keep The New York Times crossword on Sunday.

We’ll also have new vendors for our horoscope and bridge column.

We did our best to keep all your favorite features — and even added a couple — but it may take you a few days to get used to their new locales.

This story was originally published November 15, 2015 at 6:15 AM with the headline "Karen Peterson: 2016 race is on."