You may have noticed anonymous sources in recent stories such as 'It's a terror campaign.' Federal workers in Seattle area describe snitching, secrecy under Trump and Monisha Harrell breaks silence on her uncle – and former boss – Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell. We wanted to share how we consider the use of unnamed anonymous sources.

Our ethics policy states that our priority is to have sources on the record. If a source requests anonymity, our staff must determine that there is “substantial journalistic justification” for granting it. At this moment, we are hearing from current and former federal employees in Western Washington who fear retribution for coming forward. Our responsibility is to make sure they are a credible and reliable source, and weigh the value to the public of the information they have to share.

In short, granting anonymity in these instances allows us to provide our audience with information we would not be able to get otherwise, strengthens our local reporting, and protects our sources.

Last October in this newsletter, we addressed a comment from Susan, an Evergreen KUOW member who let us know that she is turning off KUOW more often, “because so much of what comes on is sad and unhappy.” She suspected that she is “not alone in [her] need to have something other than depressing news the majority of the time.”

KUOW's News Director Jason Pagano, understood Susan's feelings and noted that on the days when “things are sounding grim, our newscasters are likely feeling the same thing. We do pay attention to the mix of stories in any particular newscast or show, and love the chance to share a 'feel good' story with listeners whenever we can.”

For the last few months we've been working on a way to share those stories and it's now live on our website: The Rain Shadow. It's a spot for stories that spark joy, ignite curiosity and connect us to each other.

The page and newsletter were inspired by the listener feedback we received asking for this type of news coverage.

First published in the 11th March 2025 Politics Newsletter.

When President Trump pardoned the Jan. 6 rioters, KUOW reporter, Casey Martin, was curious to talk with locals who participated that day to hear how the experience might have changed them.

On February 11, we broadcast and published Casey’s story: the story, Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter from Washington state has a new passion — reforming the justice system. The story started with what Kingston, WA man Taylor Johnatakis saw and did at the U.S. Capitol protest in 2021, detailed his conviction for his participation in that day and then explored how his imprisonment changed him into an advocate for incarceration reform.

Listeners had mixed feelings about our choice to feature Johnatakis. Samuel R. was “so disappointed KUOW has highlighted this person who has tried to significantly qualify their actions on J6th.”

On the other hand, Jody S. thought “The subject's perspective of incarceration was clear and enlightening. I would like to see further information on first time offenders [sic] perspective of the prison environment.”

Our reporters are driven to build understanding for those featured in our stories, even if the person’s choices or perspective might be difficult for some listeners to agree with. Casey said his goal “was to learn more about this large group of people that until now I've only really heard about on TV or in court documents.” The pardoning of the Jan. 6 rioters was a significant news story and to hear from a local voice humanized those involved.

By illustrating the shift in Johnatakis’ perspective, the story provided listeners the opportunity to consider that no person is a single decision, action, or perspective, and to then come to their own conclusions about what they think of that individual’s past, present, and future.

First published in the 25th February Politics Newsletter.

Since the new federal administration took office the news cycle has been particularly busy. While we focus on local stories, many of the announcements from President Trump could have local consequences.

Soundside host Libby Denkmann asked listeners how they wanted the show to handle coverage of President Trump and his administration. After hearing certain themes in the feedback, she spoke with KUOW News Director Jason Pagano on what listeners can expect from our local coverage.

What is consistent in KUOW's news coverage through any administration is our commitment to fairness, independence, impartiality, accuracy, and responsibility for what we report.

One way we have adapted is by dedicating two reporters to the immigration beat, based on the administration's promised approach to that issue.

Jason wanted to reassure listeners that, while there is a lot of news to cover, we'll continue choosing stories based on potential local impact to best serve our local listeners.

Read or listen for more details on our planned coverage approach.

First published in the 11th February 2024 Politics Newsletter.

More than 1,000 bills have been introduced into our state legislative session so far, with many more expected. That’s a lot to keep track of, which is why our newsroom have prioritized following the bills most likely to gain support and have significant consequences if they pass.

When KUOW covers developments with a bill we’re looking into the sponsors of the bill, how much money is behind it, where it is in the long process of consideration, what support and opposition there is, and what the consequences could be if it passes. We have a challenging word limit for 1-minute or 3-minute radio stories and typically do not include the bill number as it provides no context for the purpose of the bill, instead referring to them by the issue they address, such as the "rent stabilization bill."

The limitation is not as applicable in a web story. In the past when we have chosen not to include the bill number or legislative link in the online version of the story, readers have written in requesting that information as they want to learn more from the source material. In response to this feedback, we’re working hard to always include the bill number and link in our web stories so that if the bill piques your curiosity, you are pointed in the right direction on the Washington State Legislature website.

First published in the 28th January Politics Newsletter.

KUOW is an NPR-member network station, which means we independently produce local reporting and broadcast NPR produced national reporting. This insight serves to explain how our local newsroom operates.

If you're interested in how the NPR newsroom operates I recommend NPR's Public Editor Newsletter.

The NPR Public Editor is an independent position at NPR created to serve as a bridge between the newsroom and the audience.

In their latest newsletter they detail how NPR is redeploying reporting and editing resources to prepare to document the massive changes that President-elect Trump is promising, and to better meet the needs of the national audience.

You'll hear this coverage on our airwaves and our reporting on the local consequences of those national stories.

First published in the 14th January 2025 Politics Newsletter.

Our newsroom will be reporting on:

• Whether Washington will get a wealth tax and if any other taxes change.

• How lawmakers will approach state spending and what consequences that could have on schools, the homeless, and public safety.

• How Governor-elect Ferguson will depart from outgoing Governor Inslee’s budget plans and vision.

• How Governor-elect Ferguson, state, and city government will interact with President Trump’s administration.

• Who Seattle City Council will select to fill Councilmember Tammy Morales’ seat until the November election.

• The King County executive election.

• The Seattle mayor, city attorney, and city council election.

First published in the 31st December 2024 Politics Newsletter.

On December 4, Seattle City Councilmember Tammy Morales announced that she was stepping down, citing a toxic work environment. KUOW covered the announcement.

Listener Jim P-A. commented, “Please let readers know if Sara Nelson and/or other council members were asked to respond to the allegations.”

The newsroom asked Morales for an interview on December 4, but her office said she would not be speaking further. The following day, our midday show Soundside asked Morales and Council President Sara Nelson for interviews. Nelson declined and referred us to her original statement. Morales accepted and appeared on Soundside on December 9.

As Nelson did not make herself available, we considered what her perspective might be on this issue and incorporated it into our interview with Morales. We mentioned that there was an open invitation for Nelson to appear. After Nelson heard the Morales interview, she agreed to join Soundside on December 12 to "respond to attacks on the integrity of the [Council]."

Listeners rely on KUOW to keep them up to date and our newsroom works hard to cover the news as it happens. Sometimes that means hearing from one party while we work to gather additional reaction. In this instance, we were able to expand on our initial reporting and bring listeners the two voices at the center of the story.

First published in the 17th December 2024 Politics Newsletter.

Latino voters are being credited as one factor in the outcome of last month’s presidential election, including in Washington’s Yakima County, where President-elect Trump won 56% of the vote. You can find our story here: In Trump-leaning Yakima County, Latino voters express mixed feelings.

One KUOW listener, David F., had a question about who we chose to speak to for the story:

“The interview only questioned a small number of people in only a single community. With a population around 50% Latino, couldn’t you have talked to more in the community? … No interviews with people here under temporary asylum, no dreamers. How safe do they feel as undocumented residents who haven’t committed crimes about getting caught up in a deportation net?”

For this story, reporter Gustavo Sagrero wanted to hear from Latino citizens who voted in the presidential election, “because they hold a level of power that other people in their community might not. We wanted to hear their reflections on the consequences of that power.” He visited a church, a swap meet, and several grocery stores and spoke with more people than could be featured in the story. That includes people who have not been given federal authorization to live or work in the United States, or what’s commonly referred to as undocumented.

He was able to speak with many people about their feelings on the presidential election, but struggled to find anybody who voted for Trump. Gustavo chose to end the story with quotes from a shopkeeper who wanted to remain anonymous because of his immigration status.

KUOW stories feature voices who provide the most context for our listeners to find understanding. We recognize there are many different viewpoints and experiences to feature and while one story might not be able to include them all listeners can hear many different voices across our reporting.

First published in the 3rd December 2024 Politics Newsletter.

On November 8, we published, Seattle police arrest suspect following 'arbitrary' stabbings of 10 people in Chinatown-International District. The suspect was, “described by police as being between 30 to 40 years old” and had not yet been formally charged at time of publication. Bob H. asked, “Why do we only get the age of the suspect?”

KUOW does not publish names of suspects until they are formally charged and police charging documents are released. This ensures we are sharing the most accurate information from the police charging documents. It also avoids naming someone who is arrested but then not charged, which could be harmful to the person's public standing. On November 14, we were able to share the name and other details about the suspect who was charged, and also details about the police’s efforts to catch him. You can read about it here, Man charged with multiple stabbings in Seattle's CID. Here's how one police sergeant helped catch him.

First published in the 19th November 2024 Politics Newsletter.

• Live and up to the minute local race results on kuow.org.

• Live broadcast of elections coverage 3 - 12 p.m. on Tuesday, 2 - 9 a.m. on Wednesday.

• Bonus Sound Politics episode published late Tuesday night.

• Seattle Now episode published after initial results posted.

• Reporters out in the field talking to voters and candidates about the results in local and national races.

• Analysis of the candidate and initiative results and what they mean for Washingtonians.

First published in the 4th November 2024 Politics Newsletter.

On primary election night when reporting the results of the gubernatorial race, KUOW noted that Republican candidate “Dave Reichert, who has run a law-and-order [gubernatorial] campaign and frequently notes his role in catching the Green River Killer, came in second.”

Anne M. wrote in as they were “really disappointed that KUOW doesn't question gubernatorial candidate Dave Reichert's inaccurate claim to have caught the Green River Killer. He's been riding that myth for decades and going virtually unquestioned by major media outlets.”

Independent of this feedback, managing editor, Isolde Raftery had also heard from veteran crime reporters that Reichert’s claims were exaggerated. We believed it was important to look into Dave Reichert’s claim that he was integral to the Green River Killer case as he makes that a big part of his gubernatorial campaign. Raftery asked reporter Ashley Hiruko to examine how the case impacted him and informed him as a politician. Hiruko conducted 13 interviews, reviewed Reichert’s book about the Green River Killer case, and completely vetted the public record, including media reports.

It turns out he was integral to the case, and last week we published the story, The Green River Killer and the man who chased him for decades: How the case shaped Dave Reichert. Raftery said “it was a really illuminating deep dive. He truly did the most intense work to catch a killer who preyed on girls no one cared about – and it cost him a lot personally.”

We have also discussed Democratic candidate Bob Ferguson’s campaign claims about his record as Washington Attorney General. Bob Ferguson: Aggressive AG, future governor? For more reporting on these candidates’ policy positions, you can listen to Soundside’s interviews with them both.

The Race for Governor: Bob Ferguson

The Race for Governor: Dave Reichert

First published in the 29th October 2024 Politics Newsletter.

Last week, Soundside interviewed InvestigateWest reporter, Paul Keifer about his reporting into Why one Constitutional Sheriff has created a growing volunteer posse.

Listener Alex K. wrote in with some feedback.

“Writing to express my deep disappointment on the Soundside piece covering the 'constitutional sheriff' in Klickitat County, which understated facts and carefully avoided conclusions to the point of actively misinforming listeners. The program described the constitutional sheriff's legal theories as 'debated.' Technically true, I suppose, in precisely the same way that the beliefs of election deniers, sovereign citizens, and posse comitatus are debated. In fact, the constitutional sheriff movement emerges from the same fever swamps and shares a great deal of intellectual DNA with those other far right conspiracy theories. I am fully certain the legal expert ... likely told your reporter as much in the full interview.

I am especially disappointed because this misleading coverage appears to be born not of ignorance but a willful decision to elide the truth, presumably in the interests of some delusional fair-and-balanced principle. One key tell was, for instance, when the reporter mentioned that the deputies often talk about politics — but then failed to mention what they have to say about it, and the interviewer failed to ask..."

Alex wanted us to focus on the link between constitutional sheriff posses and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Paul Keifer’s InvestigateWest story, which we linked to in our online story, acknowledges this concern in other state’s posses and that Songer is distinct from them on this issue.

“Songer does not seem focused on the results of the 2020 election. When asked by Mack about the possibility of voter fraud in Klickitat County during a radio appearance earlier this year, he explained that he had reviewed several ballots brought to him by the county clerk and found nothing untoward.”

While the link between posses and election interference is an important facet of these posses in other places, as it was not a concern with Klickitat County our focus was on the local issues. The Klickitat County community’s causes for concern are the potential for negative incidents between the community and the posse, county liability of such a large posse fulfilling responsibilities of sworn officers, and Sheriff Songer’s statements about refusing to cooperate with state and federal authorities when he considers their orders unconstitutional.

In regard to the moment that Paul Keifer mentioned the posse "talked about politics," he did so to acknowledge it was a topic, but wanted to focus on what he observed as the most prominent concern in the meeting he attended, which was wildfires.

The details of a story that we don’t include are rarely motivated by an intention to “elide the truth” but enforced by the limited time to fit in all details, and a difficult decision of what we think is most important for listeners to know about an issue. We agree there is much more that could be said about this topic and thank Alex for registering where their interest lies for this issue.

First published in the 22nd October 2024 Politics Newsletter.

Last month, KUOW documented the start of a new school year with a web story, Photos: First day fits lowkey slapped at Seattle's Roosevelt High. It consisted of high school students posing for photos on their first day of school and explaining how they chose their outfits. Amongst the feedback we received, S. Martinez asked, “Why is this news?”

Determining what is newsworthy is a subjective endeavor for both the newsroom and the news consumer as we each get to decide what is worthy of our attention.

KUOW Interim Managing Editor, Isolde Raftery wanted to celebrate the whimsy and fun of this important day by showcasing how this year’s students were expressing their identities. It gave news readers a chance to hear and see what the first day outfits meant to the teenagers. It also inspired a moment of levity in the newsroom as they brainstormed the headline.

Another piece of feedback from S. Peak contrasted the reporting with other school coverage when they commented, “Very nice story. Nobody got shot, just kids going to school.”

There is no simple objective way to decide what is worth our time and attention, it is a personal choice. One of the reasons we ask for feedback on our reporting is to understand what you think is worth your attention. This newsletter is focused on politics, which is widely understood to be a prime type of news.

First published in the 7th October 2024 Politics Newsletter.

In the last two weeks, Soundside dove deep into two of the more complicated initiatives on the November ballot, which we linked to in the Headlines section. These 20–35-minute interviews are the result of more than 75 hours of the two producers, Hans Anderson and Alec Cowan, and show host Libby Denkmann’s research.

Hans Anderson is known as Soundside’s most enthusiastic policy wonk, which made him a good fit for investigating I-2117. He sought out all available data on the impact of the cap-and-invest program — which would be repealed by I-2117 — identified what data is missing that would provide valuable context and explored the potential consequences of repealing the program. He then had to cross-check each side’s conflicting calculations for the success of the program so far and sift through their spin, so Libby had the clearest picture of the data.

For I-2066, known as the “Natural Gas Policies Measure,” both campaigns are arguing over how to interpret a significant piece of legislation passed earlier this year: ESHB 1589. The bill creates a framework guiding Puget Sound Energy on their transition away from natural gas to 100% clean energy. Proponents of I-2066 say it’s necessary to change the law and protect access to natural gas into the future; opponents say that access is unchanged and already protected in state law. In truth, the ramifications of both HB 1589 and the changes brought about by I-2066 are technical and wide ranging, meaning producer Alec Cowan had to understand all the policies, industries, and people who are — and could be — impacted by the law if it stands or changes.

We intentionally did not invite the guests in to debate each other, instead opting to fully explore their arguments one at a time with Libby. She presented critiques, challenged claims, and offered opportunities for rebuttal to give listeners the most thorough examination of the current legislation and the potential consequences of the initiatives. As Libby was getting in the weeds with Washington Policy Center's Todd Myers, he joked, “This is a good discussion. I wish we had these kinds of discussions in Olympia.”

Laws like these are typically decided in long legislative committee meetings by lawmakers paid to make these decisions. But Washington state gives citizens the opportunity to “provide a check over the decisions of their Legislature.” With these interviews, we hope you feel more informed to make your decision. Stay tuned for similar thorough discussions of I-2109 and I-2124 in the coming weeks.

First published in the 24th September 2024 Politics Newsletter.

Susan, an Evergreen KUOW member, wrote to let us know that she is turning off KUOW more often, “because so much of what comes on is sad and unhappy.” She suspects she is “not alone in my need to have something other than depressing news the majority of the time.” She then asked for our views on optimistic, informative programming. KUOW's News Director, Jason Pagano shared that on the days, “that things are sounding grim, our newscasters are likely feeling the same thing. We do pay attention to the mix of stories in any particular newscast or show, and love the chance to share a 'feel good' story with listeners whenever we can.” NPR’s Public Editor looked into the same concern for national programming in 2023.

We don’t get to decide what happens in the world, but the daily news teams make an effort to feature stories that explore serious subjects in ways that can spark optimism and curiosity. Examples of recent stories are how the 988 crisis hotline is helping King County residents in moments of need, a boxing program that helps youth overcome conflict, and the new light rail stations’ impact on surrounding neighborhoods.

When covering an election year, there's a lot of partisan rhetoric that could be disheartening. It's why we believe in sharing nonpartisan organization Braver Angels' podcast with you. A Braver Way host Mónica Guzmán is joined by guests from across the political spectrum to unearth tools, insights, and messy real life stories that can guide you over the divide in everyday life. Take a listen to hear stories of hope.

Our politics reporters are striving to bring you all the information you need to understand your ballot choices. It might be dense and require serious consideration, but we believe helping you feel informed and empowered to vote is a form of optimistic programming.

First published in the 10th September 2024 Politics Newsletter.

During the last legislative session, six policy initiatives qualified for consideration in the Washington Legislature and inclusion on the November ballot. In January, we covered this in a Seattle Now episode titled, “Republican initiatives you’ll be voting on in Washington state.” Listener Teri-Lee had some feedback for us:

“Calling the current initiative movement as "backed by Washington State Republicans" is a cheap shot and misses the target. I am a moderate Democrat and I support all six of these initiatives whole-heartedly.”

The six initiatives address varied issues from the state’s long-term care program and police pursuits to capital gains tax and the Climate Commitment Act. They have one unifying quality: they’re all backed by the state Republican party and Washington-based Republican megadonor Brian Heywood. We believe this is important context to include, especially as they all aim to undo key policies passed by Democrats who have controlled the state legislature in recent years.

But this listener feedback helped us consider that describing the initiatives as, “Republican,” places a political value judgement on the policies. Since this discussion, we’ve been more in favor of using, “Republican-backed initiatives” and “voter initiatives” when referring to them.

The Legislature passed three of the original six initiatives this March, and have added another one for a total of four initiatives on the November ballot. Sound Politics spoke about them with our State Government reporter, Jeanie Lindsay earlier this month.

First published in the 27th August 2024 Politics Newsletter.

Elections week requires a lot of co-ordination to bring you the results and candidate reactions in the timeliest manner. In the past, this meant we had a web editor glued to their computer refreshing the Secretary of State’s website for new ballot counts and then manually updating our website. This year, we decided to find a more efficient system, which was good timing as we’d run out of glue.

We worked with Decision Desk HQ, a nonpartisan organization that uses data-scraping and other technologies to automatically update the clear, colorful graphics on our website.

With the results taken care of, it meant we could focus on reporting from gubernatorial candidate watch parties like Semi Bird’s in Enumclaw, Bob Ferguson’s in Seattle and Dave Reichert’s in Puyallup.

A week after the voting deadline, the tight race for Public Lands Commissioner still has our newsroom on the edge of their seats. Polling predicted two Republican candidates would make it through to the November ballot, but it’s turned into a much closer race than anticipated.

Republican candidate Jaime Herrera Butler has made it onto the general election ballot with just about 22% of the vote, but the second spot is between Dave Upthegrove, a Democrat and Sue Pederson, a Republican. At the time of writing, Upthegrove leads Pederson by less than half a percentage point, with more than 42,000 ballots still to be counted. As soon as they are, we'll have the results updated on our website.

In the meantime, Soundside explored the job responsibilities and the three candidates’ platforms with reporters from the Seattle Times Climate Lab.

First published in the 13th August 2024 Politics Newsletter.

To be fair to each candidate, we request the same amount of time with each of the candidates, but each has varied availability. We ask several of the same questions and a few specific to their areas of interest. KUOW reporters thoroughly research their interviewees’ previous public comments to understand what they prioritize talking about. We prepare questions that try to dive deep on both their casual comments and get past their stump talking point answers. We study the policies and issues that the candidates have said matter to them so we can provide context and ask follow-up questions based on their answers. We anticipate where we might need to push them for a clearer answer and consider whether it better serves the listener to use the limited time that we get with them challenging their claims or move on to another topic we also believe is important to hear their perspective on. Our role is to provide access to the powerful so you can be informed on how they think and what they’re offering as a candidate. You might not agree or like what they say, but it means you have more information to evaluate your election choices. Keep an ear and eye out for more candidate interviews in the coming months.

First published in the 30th July 2024 Politics Newsletter.