User:Mpen320/NPOL Thoughts

===Candidate Coverage Often Fails GNG - De facto reliance on subject===

===Candidate Coverage Often Fails GNG - De facto reliance on subject===

[[WP:GNG|GNG]] excludes works produced by the article's subject or someone affiliated with it. For example, advertising, press releases, autobiographies, and the subject's website are not considered independent. Candidate announcements rely heavily on information provided by the political campaign. Do you really think that reporters covering announcements are calling up universities to confirm attendance before publishing a candidacy announcement noting that Candidate X attended Harvard? Remember, Rose Weldon of ''The Island Now'' in "Santos seeks to bring 'fresh perspective' to 3rd District" called then-candidate [[George Santos]] a financial professional in 2020 while Thomas Bolger of the ''[[Long Island Press]]'', in "[https://web.archive.org/web/20220305054001/https://www.longislandpress.com/2022/03/04/10-candidates-running-to-replace-suozzi-in-3rd-congressional-district/ 10 Candidates Running to Replace Suozzi in 3rd Congressional District]" stated that Santos was an economist in 2022. As we would later learn when more outlets [https://www.theleaderonline.com/single-post/the-leader-told-you-so-us-rep-elect-george-santos-is-a-fraud-and-wanted-criminal discovered local reporting] done by the ''[[The North Shore Leader]]'' and the [[Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee|DCCC's]] treasure trove of [http://web.archive.org/web/20221112150355/https://dccc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/George-Santos-Research-Book.pdf public-facing opposition research] he was not either of these things (AND MORE!). While Santos's casual relationship with the truth was unique in its boldness, it is indicative of how loosely the press vets candidates when they are simply announcing a campaign.

[[WP:GNG|GNG]] excludes works produced by the article's subject or someone affiliated with it. For example, advertising, press releases, autobiographies, and the subject's website are not considered independent. Candidate announcements rely heavily on information provided by the political campaign. Do you really think that reporters covering announcements are calling up universities to confirm attendance before publishing a candidacy announcement noting that Candidate X attended Harvard? Remember, Rose Weldon of ''The Island Now'' in "Santos seeks to bring 'fresh perspective' to 3rd District" called then-candidate [[George Santos]] a financial professional in 2020 while Thomas Bolger of the ''[[Long Island Press]]'', in "[https://web.archive.org/web/20220305054001/https://www.longislandpress.com/2022/03/04/10-candidates-running-to-replace-suozzi-in-3rd-congressional-district/ 10 Candidates Running to Replace Suozzi in 3rd Congressional District]" stated that Santos was an economist in 2022. As we would later learn when more outlets [https://www.theleaderonline.com/single-post/the-leader-told-you-so-us-rep-elect-george-santos-is-a-fraud-and-wanted-criminal discovered local reporting] done by the ''[[The North Shore Leader]]'' and the [[Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee|DCCC's]] treasure trove of [http://web.archive.org/web/20221112150355/https://dccc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/George-Santos-Research-Book.pdf public-facing opposition research] he was not either of these things (AND MORE!). While Santos's casual relationship with the truth was unique in its boldness, it is indicative of how loosely the press vets candidates when they are simply announcing a campaign.

Take "billionaire" candidate Reid Rasner. Rasner was quoted as billionaire by the press numerous times in 2025. Eventually, [https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2025/06/17/man-who-says-he-can-move-tiktok-to-south-dakota-is-a-bust-in-wyoming-politics/ an article from South Dakota Searchlight using 2022 statements] disproved the claim. This means that, had any of these 2025 journalists made a modicum of effort, they could have learned he was not a billionaire, an exceptional claim in of itself. Why? Simple. His press release said so. This claim was blindly regurgitated by [https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wyoming-billionaire-reid-rasner-says-230804565.html NBC News], [https://www.wyomingnewsnow.tv/news/a-wyoming-billionaires-pursuit-to-become-the-next-owner-of-tiktok/article_f8099f4c-d60e-4393-b1e6-48b401e063a0.html a local NBC affiliate], and the [https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/16/larry-rhoden-reid-rasner-bring-tiktok-to-south-dakota/83122828007/ Argus-Leader].

In other cases, a newspaper will outright publish the press release without indicating it as such. The ''Paragould Daily Press'' did just that with [https://www.newspapers.com/article/paragould-daily-press-joseph-wood-campai/173594853/ this press release]. This release was well written enough to be mistaken for a candidate profile written by a journalist at the newspaper in the [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Joseph K. Wood|no consenus AfD]] for Arkansas Secretary of Transformation [[Joseph K. Wood]]. While Wood was also the county executive of one of the state's larger counties and thus a somewhat vetted individual, I believe this instance speaks to the problem of using candidate announcements published in newspapers to establish GNG.

In other cases, a newspaper will outright publish the press release without indicating it as such. The ''Paragould Daily Press'' did just that with [https://www.newspapers.com/article/paragould-daily-press-joseph-wood-campai/173594853/ this press release]. This release was well written enough to be mistaken for a candidate profile written by a journalist at the newspaper in the [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Joseph K. Wood|no consenus AfD]] for Arkansas Secretary of Transformation [[Joseph K. Wood]]. While Wood was also the county executive of one of the state's larger counties and thus a somewhat vetted individual, I believe this instance speaks to the problem of using candidate announcements published in newspapers to establish GNG.

What this amounts to is that most biographical information in articles comes straight from candidates, with minimal vetting, and cannot be used to establish GNG. Without that information, you have X announces candidacy which borders on indiscriminate information.

I am not saying that newspapers are inherently unreliable or should be automatically treated as churnalism, but given the turn around time between announcement and publication, but it is clear that in many instances most biographical information in articles comes straight from candidates, with minimal time to vet, and cannot be used to establish GNG given their de facto lack of independence. Without that information, you have X announces candidacy which borders on indiscriminate information.

===Other policy issues===

===Other policy issues===