My special guest on the podcast today is Steve Huntley, the former editor of the editorial page at the Chicago Sun-Times. For a long time, Steve was one of the few conservative voices in Chicago newspapers. Today Steve is going to provide us with tips on editorial boards from his years of experience in the journalism world.

If you are running for local office or considering a political campaign, then you will need to prepare for an editorial board. The tips you learn today can help make sure that you have the best experience possible and take full advantage of the opportunity. Learn all that you can now to take full advantage of your editorial board experience.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Who an editorial board interviews– learn what races are of interest to editorial boards and what to expect for your political campaign
• How editorial boards contact clients- learn how you can expect to be contacted by an editorial board so you don’t miss it
• What to do with editorial board questionnaires- learn why it is important to take the questionnaires seriously
• How many people make up an editorial board- learn who is usually on an editorial board so you know what to expect
• What the latest trends in editorial boards are- learn how changes in editorial boards should impact how you prepare for them
• How an editorial board decides on endorsements- learn the process of how a newspaper makes endorsements for political candidates
• What biases an editorial board may have- learn about editorial board biases and how to prepare for them
• Why editorial boards are important, even if they are biased- learn how an editorial board can help you, even if you don’t get its endorsement

Resources:

Steve Huntley’s columns: chicago.suntimes.com/author/shuntley/

Contact information: 

Steve Huntley

Email: shuntley.cst@gmail.com.

John Tsarpalas

Twitter: @JTsarpalas

Email: john@commonwealthy.com

Biography:

Throughout a journalism career that has spanned fifty years, Steve Huntley has experience doing almost everything. After graduating from UNC Chapel Hill with a BA in Journalism in 1965, Steve began his career as a reporter, writer, and editor for the United Press International. Since that time, Steve’s distinguished career includes being an editor for the U.S. News World and Report and editorial page editor for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Under Steve’s leadership, the Metro staff won Lisagor awards in 1996 for coverage of the Fox River Grove, Ill., school bus-train crash that killed seven children, in 1993 for coverage of the Chicago Loop flood and in 1992 for the “After the Shooting Stops” series on the impact of violent death on families and communities. After Steve became the editorial page editor, the Sun-Times editorial page staff was twice awarded the Peter Lisagor Award for exemplary journalism.

Steve was a twice-a-week freelance OpEd columnist on public policy, politics, and national and international affairs at the Chicago Sun-Times from 2008 to 2015. He co-authored Knocking Down Barriers: My Fight for Black America, by Truman K. Gibson Jr. with Steve Huntley (Northwestern University Press). 

Steve now lives in Texas, with his wife, Linda. They have two daughters, Kristine and Katherine.

Transcript: Available here

Thank you for listening!