Citizens Agenda

What is a “Citizens Agenda” and how does it work?

Cascadia Daily News will put election issues in the hands of readers for the important upcoming midterm election, beginning with primary season and extending through General Election day. Our coverage will follow two tracks:

- Regular news stories and election updates in CDN’s news pages at cascadiadaily.com and in our weekly print edition.

- A separate, complementary project, CDN Citizens Agenda, that encourages reader-voters to “set the table” for election coverage by passing on their own answers to a simple question:

What do you want candidates to be talking about as they compete for votes?

The goal is to have you, the reader, establish the framework for election issues, rather than candidates relying on their own “talking points” or personal agendas.

The Citizens Agenda strategy has been employed by many U.S. and Canadian media outlets over the past two decades, with favorable results; publications have consistently reported campaign coverage that’s more relatable and meaningful to readers, allowing them to make more informed election decisions by setting their own agenda for election coverage and avoiding rote candidate talking points.

What’s the process?

CDN will assemble readers’ submissions into a large list of most-requested topics and publish them, asking readers to vote for the most important subjects. Armed with this information, CDN’s editor and reporters will put those chosen questions to candidates who participate in our endorsement process. We’ll also be asking the questions at public forums and other places to better focus the news reporting we do about the candidates.

What’s the incentive for candidates? If they don’t answer your questions, we’ll note that they declined to do so in our CDN Voter’s Guide, which will appear in October before the General Election.

Questions? Contact Ron Judd, executive editor, at ronjudd@cascadiadaily.com.

Editor’s note: Election reporting is provided free to all readers as a public service by your locally owned Cascadia Daily News. Thanks for supporting truly local news by donating to CDN or subscribing here.

How else can I contribute?

CDN is also still soliciting pitches for a series of “What’s At Stake” guest-commentary essays to appear on Opinion pages during the runup to the Eeneral Election. If you know someone (or would like to nominate yourself) who is well-versed and might want to opine about an issue likely to be affected by the national or local election, please send a note to Executive Editor Ron Judd at ronjudd@cascadiadaily.com. We have several great volunteers already, but can use more!