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Writing:Articles about newspapers
Newspapers in ballot initiative states play a key role in disseminating information to opinion leaders and voters about ballot measures.
Patterns of Behavior
Newspaper readers want to be able to assess the integrity, reliability and neutrality of newspaper articles and columns about ballot initiatives. One way to do that is to be aware of a given newspaper's editorial attitude toward the ballot initiative process as well as to specific ballot measures.
Ask yourself these questions when reporting on article coverage
- Does the newspaper take a widely known stance on its political views?
- How many positive or negative articles were printed during the ballot drive?
- What was the view of the staff editorials?
- What type of editorials made it to the newspaper?
- Who did they interview in articles? What was their most common source?
- Who controls/owns the newspaper?
As an example, see the article about the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
When you edit an article on Ballotpedia about a newspaper, consider including sections in the article that allow Ballotpedia users and editors to include information about those aspects of the newspaper.
