I told the Goldwater Institute The Gazette is independent

I got a request from the Goldwater Institute about staffers in particular areas at The Gazette, and what our Opinion Page leanings are like. We get questions for different organizations' data bases this time of the year. I was glad to respond.

Here is the e-mail and that response. I thought I'd share and see if folks agree or disagree with the questions about the newspaper's slant on things. Also, some contact information people sometimes want locally is in the answer.

From: Rebecca Hartrick [mailto:RHartrick@goldwaterinstitute.org]

Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 10:46 AM

To: customercare@gazcomm.com

Subject: Newspaper Contacts

 To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Rebecca Hartrick and I am an intern at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.  We are currently attempting to gather newspaper information from around the country for our database.  If you could please take a few moments to answer some basic questions about your publication we would greatly appreciate it.

 What is the name, phone number, and email contact for the:

 Opinion Editor:  Jeff Tecklenburg 319-398-8262, jeff.tecklenburg@gazcomm.com

 Education Reporter:

 K-12 -- Meredith Hines-Dochterman 319-398-8434, meredith.hines-dochterman@gazcomm.com

Higher education – Diane Heldt 319-339-3158, diane.heldt@gazcomm.com

 Government Reporter:

State – Rod Boshart 515-243-7220, rod.boshart@gazcomm.com

Cedar Rapids city – Rick Smith 319-398-8312, rick.smith@gazcomm.com    Linn County (IA) – Adam Belz 319-398-8273, adam.belz@gazcomm.com

Iowa City/Johnson County – Gregg Hennigan 319-339-3175, Gregg.hennigan@gazcomm.com

(If there is more than one editor/reporter, please provide information for them as well)

 Do you have a Conservative Columnist?  If so, please provide their contact information. We have two local columnists (Todd Dorman and Jennifer Hemmingsen) who write about local issues, floating across both ends of the political spectrum, depending upon the issue. We use syndicated columnists for a variety from the varying degrees of both sides of the political spectrum.

Is your newspaper considered to be: Liberal, Conservative, Leans Left, Leans Right, or No Bias? We have been accused of being all of these, so it depends upon the readers' point of view. Our news pages are independent of the Opinion Page and abide by regular standards of fairness, completeness, not showing bias. Our editorials are independent, depending upon the issue, so we have supported strong business development, a strong military, low taxes, lean government and curbing spending. But we also have supported social issues that some conservatives favoring the aforementioned positions would take issue with – for example, our opinion page supported an Iowa Supreme Court ruling making same-sex marriage legal in the state – and we have supported some local bond issues when we thought a need existed. Our candidate endorsements usually favor Republican candidates, although we've been fiercely independent on that, too, and have endorsed candidates from both major parties.