Editorial: Why TNP isn't doing a debate

Dear readers,The New Political prides itself on being your source for political news at Ohio University, in Athens and around Ohio. But, as any avid reader or producer of political news knows, politics can more often than not become focused on the sport of campaigns and elections rather than the heart of the issues.That’s not what we want. We don’t want to merely convey the rhetoric and partisanship of politics. Instead, we want to push past the politics and uncover the initiatives and plans of each ticket. So we decided not to hold a debate for the Student Senate presidential candidates, with the feeling that debates typically end in nothing more than bickering among the candidates.Within the past year, The New Political has decided to refocus our reporting to bring more meaning back into politics and political news. We aim to provide depth and context by showing all sides of the story and giving our readers all of the information we can. Rather than being a mere mouthpiece for politicians or dictating what our readers should know, we want to tell the comprehensive story and let our readers decide for themselves.Of course, other factors came into consideration when we were deciding whether or not to host a debate, including the shortened campaign season. But, in truth, these considerations only spurred the conversation, causing us to realize that hosting debates was no longer the direction we wanted to take.As such, we decided to instead host one-on-one audio interviews with each candidate to be live streamed online. These interviews will also later be produced into podcasts to include additional context to statements from the candidates. We want to know what you want to know, so we’re also accepting questions before and during the interview.If you want to know the goals of each presidential candidate without dealing with the politics of a debate, tune in for live interviews here (times for each interview will be posted as they are scheduled). And, as always, follow us on Twitter at @thenewpolitical or Facebook for updates. Yours truly,Jaelynn Grisso