Elections Coverage
During election season, Holyoke Media may, at its sole discretion, organize or participate in events to help improve visibility of candidates and ballot issues for which community members have the ability to vote. All election-related activities will be conducted in an unbiased manner, affording the same rights to any certified candidates or representatives who are for or against ballot issues.
Good Faith Effort
When conducting any election-centered event, a good faith effort will be made to contact candidates using the official information provided to the clerk. We will attempt contact through:
- Phone and text
- Certified Mail
If a candidate has not responded to any of these inquiries, it will be understood that they decline to participate.
Debates
Any debates organized by Holyoke Media will seek to include all certified candidates for a given office.
The debate format and response times will be assigned beforehand and will include:
- An introduction by the moderator, which will include the introduction of the candidates and the office being pursued, as well as a request of the audience to respectfully refrain from excessive exuberance for or against a particular candidate.
- Opening statements by each candidate
- Questions asked equally to all candidates (in a rotating fashion)
- Closing statements by each candidate.
With the agreement of the candidates present, debates may also include Lincoln/Douglas style questions where the candidates question each other, questions from the audience or questions solicited online. Holyoke Media will work to identify days and times to hold the debate that will work for all candidates; however, if consensus cannot be reached, the organization may ascribe a date and time based on when the most candidates are available. If a candidate doesn’t show up to the debate, or cancels last minute, it will be announced that they were invited to attend, and that it in no way signifies the endorsement of the attending candidate by Holyoke Media. Both before and after the debate there will be informal time for candidates to meet with voters. When choosing a venue for the debate, priority will be given to finding a neutral site that can accommodate a large audience. Partisan attire by the audience, including buttons and signs, is strictly forbidden.
No candidates will be provided the specific questions beforehand; however, if information on the types of questions is provided, it will be given equally to all candidates.
Candidate Interviews
Holyoke Media may choose to conduct candidate interviews with any certified candidates for a given office. Candidates will be asked identical questions; however, since the point of an interview is to provide additional insight into their candidacy, there may be candidate-specific follow-up questions that are not asked to all.
Candidate Statements
Holyoke Media may make available to candidates the ability to record a candidate statement. The format and length of the candidate statement will be established beforehand and will be equally distributed to all candidates. The format used, unless otherwise altered, is:
A three minute or less video in which the candidate states “I’m _______________ and I’m running for _____________ because….”
Videos may be recorded with the assistance of Holyoke Media staff or submitted directly by the candidate; however, videos recorded by the staff must be recorded in one continuous take (although the option will be provided to record multiple takes in order to record one that the candidate is happy with) and will not receive additional editing other than a 30-frame audio and video transition in and out, as well as the addition of a 5-second standard organizational lower-third graphic stating the candidate name and political office sought.
While a candidate statement is given to the candidate to use as they see fit, Holyoke Media reserves the right not to air any statement that violates the organizational content policy. Statements exceeding the time constraints, even incrementally, will not be included, but may be rerecorded.
From the outset, a submission date will be set with the goal of presenting all the candidate statements together in an equal fashion. If candidates do not record or provide a statement by the deadline, it will not preclude the content from being broadcast or brought live online; however, their submissions may be added after the fact.
Statement of Impartiality
In no case, and under no circumstance, does Holyoke Media advocate for or against any candidate for public office or ballot initiative. In all cases with matters of public vote, all official candidacies and initiatives will receive as equal and impartial treatment as is feasible. Holyoke Media staff shall not participate in an official capacity during paid company hours, as producer, crewperson, or other technical or advisory position which would be an advantage to any of the declared candidates or sides in a ballot question debate or forum. Staff can continue to perform other normal duties, however, such as engineering, technical assistance, training, and scheduling for such programs, as they would with other access programs.