Over the course of the next week, The Daily Iowan Editorial Board will publish its endorsements for the major candidates and issues directly affecting our readership. As a part of the Editorial Board, along with the Opinions page editor, I will forgo the usual editorial that runs in this space in order to better explain the lengths the board took in the recent past and continues to take through this week to make sure our endorsements best affect our readership and the Iowa City area.
Each endorsement published in the coming days contain a weight of commitment not only to the eligible voters who read this paper but also contains a massive amount of consideration for all people and issues in Johnson County, Iowa and the nation as a whole. We, as a board, did not come to these decisions as mere students but as functional members of a national and local community, so that we may persuade already informed constituents.
Perceived bias constantly consumes the informed reader, as any critical thinker looks for the silent persuader between the words of a written body of work. Though no person, nor work, can truly be without bias, the Editorial Board vowed to set aside any previous bias towards a political affiliation to endorse candidates and issues that bring about the most positive consequences for the Iowa City area.
The process for endorsing a single candidate or issue began with a straight vote among the entire board members. After both sides presented in-depth analyses, providing empirical and anecdotal evidence to back each argument, vigorous but controlled open debate ensued among the board’s members. Discussion for each issue did not cease until the entire board came to a general consensus on each issue.
It should be pointed out that not every decision was unanimous, but each decision carried a super majority of the votes on the board. Our endorsements mean to directly persuade each and every reader by providing sound arguments, backed up by unimpeachable evidence to demonstrate our claims.
Though we are young, and often called sophomoric, we seek to transcend age and previous criticism as to fulfill our civic duty as journalists: to inform and persuade the voter through strict logic and common sense approach. We, as a board, laboriously assessed the facts in every decision we made and decided each issue based on those facts.
Starting today, we have public polls posted for each endorsement issue on The Daily Iowan’s website and request all readers actively partake in each poll. These will run alongside each endorsement as a gauge of public opinion versus our decision.
As always, your letters and comments are encouraged throughout the week and will be published when they are pertinent.