With 14 people on the May 1 ballot running to be the next mayor of San Antonio, it is a legitimate question to ask how NOWCastSA chose two for our Mayoral Candidate Town Hall.
NOWCastSA has decided to feature two candidates based on a policy developed by the excellent journalists at Texas Public Radio, using criteria rooted in principles of editorial integrity and judgment
First, a candidate must meet the legal requirements for eligibility for office imposed by the State of Texas to be included.
Then, we consider the candidates' campaign activity and established, nonpartisan polling data to make a viewpoint neutral editorial judgment of the candidates’ newsworthiness and voter interest.
Voter interest may also be measured by the percentage of votes cast for a candidate in a previous election, and so a candidate would have had to receive a minimum of 10 percent of votes in a previous election for the same office or a comparable office.
As of today, only Incumbent Mayor Ron Nirenberg and his challenger, Greg Brockhouse meet that test. None of the other candidates on the mayoral ballot tallied 10 percent or more of the votes, citywide in 2019.
Read the entire Texas Public Radio Policy here:
Texas Public Radio Candidate Debate Guidelines
Texas Public Radio considers election debates to be important forums for helping the community make informed decisions.
To determine guidelines for debates, Texas Public Radio believes it is important to establish viewpoint neutral criteria for candidate inclusion. These are rooted in principles of editorial integrity and judgment. Following are the criteria editorial staff will consider in making decisions about candidate inclusion:
1. A candidate must have met all legal qualifications required by the State of Texas to appear on the ballot and be eligible for office.
2. A candidate must be actively campaigning for election in the jurisdiction he or she is seeking to represent. To meet the definition of an active campaign, a candidate would need to establish a campaign headquarters with a paid and/or volunteer staff; generate public interest, such as being invited to speak at public gatherings and obtaining monetary contributions; and have a campaign that would be sufficiently newsworthy to warrant coverage by the media. In the current digital environment there’s a presumption that the candidate would have an easily accessible website and social media presence.
3. Polls are often a measure of voter interest. If the debate involves candidates in a race where polling is undertaken, credible, non-partisan polls may be considered. If a candidate consistently receives a minimum of a 10 percent rating in established, nonpartisan polls, the candidate may be presumed to be newsworthy. Voter interest may also be measured by the percentage of votes cast for a candidate in a previous election, and so a candidate would have had to receive a minimum of 10 percent of votes in a previous election for the same office or a comparable office.
In all cases, Texas Public Radio will require a candidate to meet the legal requirements for eligibility for office imposed by the State of Texas to be included in a debate. For candidates who satisfy this eligibility standard, Texas Public Radio will consider the candidates' campaign activity and established, nonpartisan polling data to make a viewpoint neutral editorial judgment of the candidate's newsworthiness.