The Seattle Times has launched a controversial independent expenditure campaign promoting political causes drawing criticism from journalists and political scientists because it damages the credibility of the newspaper’s reporting and objectivity. Vivitiv saw this issue coming as far back as 2003 in our work with the Committee for a Two Newspaper Town, which at the time was working to keep The Seattle Post-Intelligencer alive. It worked for a while until the P-I ceased print publication and went to an all digital format in 2009. Here are a few of the ads we wrote and designed for the committee which spoke to the need for at least two newspapers in a community to keep each other honest and uphold their sacred trust to inform the public in an objective manner. Opinion and advocacy is fine…on the editorial page where it belongs.
