Here’s what to know about how we’re covering the 2024 elections

Hey there, reader. In our efforts to be a local news source you can continue to trust, we thought it important to share a little bit about how we’re thinking about our elections coverage this year—and every year, really. 

As our newsroom covers the incredibly important national, state and local races in Virginia, we do so with a clear audience in mind: You, the voter.

There’s an awful lot of distractions, silliness, and outright misinformation that goes around in our country’s politics these days. But our democracy is fundamentally supposed to be about how candidates would make decisions on important policies in public office that would impact your daily life. 

We want you to know that our reporting is focused on exactly that: what the candidates plan to do for you and your community.

We, nor our readers, are not particularly interested in the horse-race aspect of these campaigns. (Who has time for that, really?) People want to know what the candidates will do for them if elected—not internal campaign strategy or media pundits’ takes. We may note a state poll from time to time, but our main focus will be on the candidates running for public office, their backgrounds, their positions on issues that matter to you, and how their actions in office have/will impact people’s day-to-day lives.

We’re also going to continue to be intentional about amplifying your voices: What do you care about when it comes to the future of Virginia and the US? What problems do you want to see addressed quickly? What’s motivating your vote this year?

Our people-centered, fact-based stories will examine the real-world consequences of the choices in the elections to the voters of our state. We are writing for our communities, not simply about them.

As a pro-democracy news outlet that has clear beliefs (see more about that here), we also are not afraid to call out bad actions and bad ideas. Candidates’ positions that undermine public schools or a person’s right to make their own reproductive healthcare choices will be covered with candor and add context around what politicians say.

And if something is a lie, we’ll call it that. We won’t frame it as two parties or candidates simply disagreeing. Facts are facts. Sometimes that frustrates candidates who are used to media that will just repeat their statements without context, but here at Dogwood, scrutiny and openness in our reporting is key to helping our readers understand where candidates actually stand on the issues.

We also want our 2024 coverage to be as interactive as possible—we want to hear from you about how you react to candidates’ plans and comments, and especially what questions you have about the voting process itself.

There’s a lot of information swirling around on social media about the election and candidates, and it can be difficult at times to cut through what is true and what is hype or outright misinformation. We hope you’ll find our coverage straight-forward and to-the-point as you make your important decisions in the 2024 election to better your community, state and nation.