Here we are, October 31—the last day of the month, Halloween, and just five days before Election Day. While candidates and campaigns turn up the heat in a last-minute push to reach voters, many media companies, including Folsom Times, are choosing to turn down the thermostat on election coverage and advertising.
This period, often called “going dark,” varies across companies. Some media and tech organizations halt new campaign ads and promotions as much as two weeks before Election Day, while others pause for just a few hours. Meta, for example—which owns Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp—put a pause on new political advertising as of October 29 and will continue these restrictions through Election Day. Additionally, Meta has intensified its content screening, especially for news pages, during this period.
Even at a community news level, like Folsom Times, we’ve felt the pinch of these tightened filters on platforms like Facebook. Content is primarily screened by artificial intelligence (AI), not humans, which can result in odd decisions on what meets “their” guidelines. Last week, our story on Folsom’s Community Service Day was removed from our page, with Facebook warning it violated community standards. After several appeals, we finally had the story reinstated, proving how restrictive and sometimes flawed these policies can be. Even a “shelter pet of the week” post faced temporary removal under these tightened AI-driven controls.
Over recent months, Folsom Times has received and published a range of Community Commentary articles—editorials, op-eds, or, as they were once called, Letters to the Editor. These pieces give voice to community members who share perspectives on current campaigns and candidates, often expressing support or opposition for a candidate or measure. Managing these submissions has been a full-time effort as we review them for legal concerns, format them for clarity, and maintain a high standard of presentation. Rest assured, readers have been active this election season, engaging with our pages in large numbers.
This year’s election cycle has been notably contentious. Election seasons always have their share of ups and downs, but this year, unfortunately, there seems to be more ugliness than usual. Some local candidates have faced threats and racial remarks in numbers that feel unprecedented and disappointing, given our community’s longstanding values. Contributor Stephanie Herrera addressed this troubling trend in a recent editorial on our site. I encourage locals to read her work; it’s thoughtful and well-timed as our last political commentary for this season.
Having worked with various media companies, I can say that reputable publishers often go dark one to two weeks before Election Day on election-related editorials, letters, and press releases. I can’t speak for everyone as times change, along with management, ownership and policy and there’s a few that don’t appear to care so much about what they publish these days. Here at Folsom Times, we’re honoring that tradition, and we’ve notified readers over the past month and a half that political content would pause close to Election Day.
As a policy, we do not endorse any political figure or campaign. Neutrality is core to our election coverage, and we strive to leave the outcome in the hands of voters. All editorials that we have published so far have been written and submitted by community members or campaign representatives, not by our staff or ownership. Some of those campaigns have been more active than others when it comes to their materials and frequency, something that is out of our control. But rest assured, we do not recruit or solicit any such submissions, nor do we recruit paid political display advertising on our site, those campaigns that have advertising on our platform reached out to Folsom Times in an effort to tap into our extremely large local readership base.
Any political advertiser that is part of our advertising has come to our company to advertise. and advertising is very different from editorial and includes all of the required funding disclosures upon it to align with common media standards. We also do not accept payment to publish any such articles, that would be highly unethical of us and we are not in the business of “hit pieces” on businesses or individuals. Believe it or not, we have declined such financial offers in the past to publish a “hit piece,” from disgruntled consumers and others and will continue doing so in all editorial content, not just the of a political nature.
With our cutoff for campaign content now in effect, I’ll end with this simple bit of advice: Get out and vote! If there’s a candidate or issue you care about, exercise your right to vote on it.
Many elections come down to voter turnout, and this year promises to be no different. Next Tuesday, as the results roll in locally, regionally, and nationally, many will be glued to their screens. It will likely be the top entertainment of the night, so don’t be surprised if there’s a run on popcorn. Whatever the outcome, you’ll have done your part by casting your vote.
I want to thank all of our readers and our advertising for supporting us these last two years. I never thought when we launched this platform it would grow as rapidly as it did. I never expected we would be named an Emerging Business of the Year by the community and I never expected that we would become such a popular read in our first election since we began, its been a ride. Thank you for that!
Bill Sullivan is a 31-time California News Publishers (CNPA) award recipient and is the co-founder of Folsom Times, an All Town Media LLC online publication. You can reach him at bill@folsomtimes.com.