Readers want political news — about the other Washington

Despite pollster Stuart Elway’s suspicion that engagement with politics might be dropping off since the November 2024 presidential election, engagement is high among Washingtonians of all political persuasions, but most of their focus seems to be on national headlines. 

As a recovering doomscroller, I’m not necessarily surprised by that data point: Who among us hasn’t lost hours of our one wild and precious life to the daily onslaught of breaking national news? But as a news editor at a local outlet, this preoccupation with national politics is a reminder that we have some work to do if we’re going to get eyeballs focused on coverage of this Washington – not just the other one. 

This newsletter is a space where I hope this can happen, and if you’re a loyal reader, I’m very pleased to meet you: I’m Megan Burbank, Cascade PBS’ new news editor. You may know my name from my byline as a longtime freelance reporter: Since 2021, I’ve covered local news related to reproductive health policy, and have previously written here about what drew me to that work. Whether we’re talking about abortion coverage or the state budget, public policy – especially state-level public policy – affects people’s lives in ways both casual and profound, and I’m lucky to work with a news team who dig into how policy shapes Washingtonians’ experiences every day. 

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As we tackle the local reverberations of national politics and report on our findings, from the floor of the legislature and the corners of city hall to contentious town hall meetings in Eastern Washington and massive protests in downtown Seattle, we’re working hard to find ways to make local politics less of a slog. That could take the form of translating state budget proposals into an enjoyable quiz or demystifying the single-issue ballot currently sowing confusion and taking up valuable space on your kitchen counter (it’s about funding fingerprinting for King County law enforcement). 

But it could also come straight from you. Moving forward with this newsletter, we’d like to know what issues and angles are important to you, so that we can tailor our coverage more effectively. We know where some Washingtonians stand when it comes to following national politics, but we’d like to know even more. What issues are you most concerned about? Which ones do you want to know more about? What headlines are you sick of seeing? Which areas of focus do you wish would get more daylight in the first place? 

We’ve created a brief survey where you can share your thoughts on all of this, and in the coming months, I’ll be using your ideas as a guide for our discussions about local politics, national politics and the large Venn diagram that holds both. We’re glad you’re paying attention.