Virginia’s 5th Congressional District: Point / Counterpoint
Candidates for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District answered a few of our questions. Read what they have to say. Discuss their answers and pose questions of your own. We have invited the candidates to drop by The RoundTable when they have a chance during the week.
September 16, 2012 - 7:39 AM
I found this Point/Counterpoint very disappointing. Both candidates simply submitted written responses, some of which did not answer the question and some which contained verified falsehoods. Their responses clearly were not challenged or even run through a fact checking organization.
I believe newspapers are supposed to inform and help readers determine what is accurate. Clearly the Roanoke Times did neither. Next time, please don’t blindly print whatever the candidates submit.
Thanks for your comment. We were also disappointed, if not surprised, by the commentaries. We try to use a light hand in editing Point/Counterpoint columns. We do conduct fact-checking for all guest commentaries, but we also have to be careful not to end up rejecting a candidate’s or candidates’ entire submission, obviously. There are certainly misleading statements from both candidates here. Whether they are outright falsehoods or information that is taken out of context can be debated, but I agree that the goal is to create confusion. Once we provide a forum for the candidates, we try to avoid seemingly taking a side in the presentation of their answers. However, I agree that it is appropriate for us to provide supplementary information that helps readers judge the information and we will do our best to do so during the election season.