The Board of Student Media Guidelines describes the purpose of media outlets on campus as entities that will "offer views of life within a unique academic and social community. They stand as forums for responsible and vigorous discussion of issues within that community."

In regards to the endorsement process, The Falcon is here to serve its readers by offering insightful comments on the qualifications of candidates for these ASSP positions. The editorial board, made up of five current editors, interviewed each candidate and had the opportunity to hear detailed descriptions of each candidate's vision for the upcoming school year.

Unfortunately, The Falcon's relationship with the student government is established in such a way that a sizeable portion of this newspaper's budget, and all the salaries for the editors, is provided by Associated Students of Seattle Pacific (ASSP); major capital purchase and technology upgrades for The Falcon are also provided by ASSP. This relationship creates what can be described as a possible conflict of interest, as The Falcon is endorsing student officials who are responsible for making budgetary decisions for media organizations.

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) code of ethics states that "Journalists should: avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived; remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility." Given The Falcon's position at this university, the conflict is unavoidable.

In an unavoidable situation such as this, the SPJ code of ethics states that the discrepancy must be disclosed or pointed out to a readership. The Falcon is acknowledging that the conflict of interest does exist, but the decisions for candidate endorsements are in no way based on The Falcon's interests alone.

Endorsement decisions are made solely with the student body in mind.

The Board of Student Media guidelines describe the separation between ASSP and The Falcon. Finances and content are not to be influenced by one another. The content of The Falcon -- including endorsements -- has no relation to the financial decisions made by ASSP. Likewise, any financial decisions made by ASSP will not be influenced by the content of any media outlet.

The Falcon is open as a forum for discussion and accountability. In this case, we are holding student government accountable to the student body by examining each candidate's strengths, weaknesses and positions on issues relevant to this campus, and in turn providing the reader with our view of the candidates' qualifications.

The function of journalism is to inform and comment on the community it serves with integrity and truth. This newspaper is holding ASSP accountable, and we hope our readers will return the same courtesy in holding us accountable.

The Endorsement Process:

The current editorial board had the chance to meet with each candidate for a short period of time to become familiarized with their platforms, visions, and experience. The board consists of Opinions Editor Joey Beaudreau, Layout Editor Amanda Lengyel, Copy Editor Michael Seguin, Photo Editor Jonny Anderson and Editor in Chief Derek Ghan. The questions for each position were similar and each candidate was given an equal amount of time to address the board.