An understanding of how political ads may or may not appear in this newspaper

In the 18 years since this newspaper began I can’t recall a time I’ve ever permitted political candidates to run advertisements. Even then I still receive requests from political campaigns in both the United States and the United Kingdom requesting advertising presence.

While I am open to the idea of running political ads, I will not allow this platform to be used as a political scapegoat for the right vs the left — or based on the fact that we have a dominance among minority youth and working minority women.

I have disregarded political ads due to the fact that I do not want our readers to feel like they have been pressured or are being influenced. Decisions should be in the hands of those reading this rather than we as the media. It is not our or my job to influence political decisions.

If and when and that is still largely unlikely that I would actually agree to it — the issue will be brought up in a public forum article to be discussed among readers.