Observer election policy

With the November election coming into focus, the Heights Observer is announcing its policy for contributions by candidates for local office.

As a community newspaper staffed by volunteers and committed to equal access for everyone, the Observer is unique among publications in providing opportunity for any member of the Cleveland Heights and University Heights communities to raise and discuss issues of local interest.

At election time, however, this commitment creates a singular challenge in managing the finite space that can be made available for community members who are running for public office.

The policy, approved by the FutureHeights board of directors, is designed to address that challenge. It states:

• The August-November issues of the printed publication will not carry any editorial contributions from candidates for office.
• During this period, any coverage of election issues will be produced by regular Observer contributors who are not running for office.
• The October issue will contain information submitted by candidates; this information will be uniformly formatted by the Observer, and will be drawn solely from a standardized questionnaire supplied by the Observer itself.
• During this pre-election period, all candidate contributions of news or opinion will continue to be accepted for publication online at www.heightsobserver.org.
• Candidates seeking to place information in the August-November printed editions of the Observer may do so through advertising space purchased from the Observer.

The Heights Observer and its parent organization, FutureHeights, do not endorse candidates or issues.