We’re making a tough call on an upcoming U.S. House debate

Over the past few weeks, the four of us here at the Beacon have been wrestling with a pretty tough decision, and we’d like to get your feedback.

A few months ago, Jeff Landfield of the Alaska Landmine asked us if we’d be willing to help with an AARP-sponsored candidate debate. The Beacon would co-host a U.S. House debate, and the Anchorage Daily News and the Anchorage Press would co-host debates with the candidates for U.S. Senate and governor.

At the time, we thought the benefits clearly outweighed any drawbacks. Earlier this year, we asked you what we should ask candidates for office this year, and a debate is a great way to do that directly — we’d get to ask the U.S. House candidates exactly what you wanted.

Locally, ABC/FOX would broadcast the debate, and C-SPAN would share it nationally, informing voters across the state and country.

We drafted an impartial list of questions inspired by the issues you raised with us earlier this year, including the cost of living, fisheries and President Donald Trump’s performance in office.

The Alaska Beacon on its own doesn’t have the video production capability or event management experience to do a good job on a debate alone, on short notice — especially not without sacrificing some news coverage — so a partnership made sense.

Collaborations are part of our mission to connect Alaskans to their state government, and we partnered with the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Public Media and KTOO on our voter guides this year. 

But in the weeks since we finalized our partnership with the Landmine, we’ve heard from some readers who say the debate agreement is a bad idea. 

You’ve told us that you believe Alaska Landmine isn’t a journalistic outlet, and Jeff’s advocacy for President Donald Trump and Ballot Measure 2 makes him far from impartial. 

In addition, you’ve told us that Jeff’s decision in 2021 to republish boudoir photos of someone who is now a candidate for governor — photos that had been public on a photographer’s website — went over the line.

Some things have also changed behind the scenes. When we agreed with the Landmine weeks ago, Republican Rep. Nick Begich III had not filled out our candidate questionnaire for the primary election and this would be our first chance to get answers to your questions. He’s now completed one for the general election, and it went online Monday.

Right now, we’ve heard feedback from a relative handful of readers about the debate, but we think that as it becomes better known, more of you will speak up.

And so, after hearing you and thinking about it for a week, we’ve decided to cancel.

We’ll have other opportunities to ask candidates the questions you wanted us to ask. We follow the Citizens Agenda on election reporting — the idea that we ask the questions that are on your minds — and to us, that also means changing course when our readers ask us to.