Ask an Attorney: Election reminders for publishers

Texas newspaper publishers in 2026 find themselves in the midst of another election season. And we know that in Texas, politics is a contact sport.

By DON RICHARDS, Richards, Elder and Frost, PLLC

Therefore, it’s a good time to go over a few of the basic Texas laws and considerations applicable to election news coverage, letters to the editor and political advertising.

1. The legal rights of a ‘free press’

The U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, and the Texas Constitution (Art. 1, Section 8), establish that newspaper publishers enjoy the rights of “freedom of the press.” But just what does that mean legally?

Unlike broadcast media, such as radio and television (which may have “equal time”legal considerations), the print media has virtually unbridled discretion regarding what to publish and what not to publish.

So it is up to each newspaper to decide what is news, how to cover it, and the allowance and/or its prohibitions of political advertising.

Newspapers may even provide news coverage of one candidate or political party, without legal obligation to provide similar coverage to an opposing candidate or political party. Well-established Texas law is clear that the newspaper is not legally required to respond to the demands of anyone regarding its news coverage or the advertising it chooses to accept or reject. (See 369 S.W. 2d 942).

Journalism ethics, however, strongly express that a newspaper should be “fair,” both in news coverage and acceptance of advertising, in order to be accepted by the public as a trustworthy and credible source of news.

Business logic would also question the rejection, without good cause, of political advertising at the peak of a political season, assuming it passes legal muster.

2. Legal obligations once a political ad is accepted

The next point is what legal obligation falls upon the newspaper once it chooses to accept a political advertisement. There are two considerations on this point:

First, all political advertising in Texas must include a “disclosure statement” identifying one of the following: (i) the person who paid for the advertisement, (ii) the political committee which authorized it; or (iii) the candidate or committee supporting the candidate if the advertisement is authorized by the candidate; i.e. “paid political adv. by ___”.

The “disclosure statement” law applies to both political candidate elections and “issue” elections such as school bond proposals, city ordinance proposals, tax proposals, etc

However, the disclosure statement law does not apply to a public-appearing but an internal membership election for non-governmental bodies such as private or non-profit governing boards banks, chambers of commerce, or agriculture or utility cooperatives.

Violations of the disclosure law could result in criminal sanctions.    For more information or assistance, the Texas Ethics Commission maintains a helpful website at “www.ethics.state.tx.us.”

The second major legal consideration, but equally as important, is whether a proposed political advertisement contains false, misleading or private information regarding a political opponent or any third-party person.

Texas’ aggressive political campaigns often get personal and heated, and newspapers who do not carefully review political advertisements can potentially face legal civil ramifications.

It is clear that most individuals seeking public office in Texas make themselves “public figures/officials” and effectively waive much of their otherwise rights of privacy by seeking public office, and thus limiting their rights to recover defamation and privacy damages.

Newspapers have the common law legal right, and duty, to make sure every political advertisement published is “substantially” true, and does not otherwise violate a third-party individual’s rights of privacy. Truth is an absolute legal defense to a claim of libel, and always is the best response of a newspaper.

In addition, “opinion” is privileged, so long as it is clear that a statement truly is an “opinion”. When in doubt, is it always legally very helpful to include in news reports or advertisements key “opinion buzzwords” such as “allegedly”, “claimed”, or “in my/his/her opinion”

Publishers should review all proposed political advertisements submitted for the truth of the statements contained in them. If a publisher has any reasonable doubts, they should require proof of the accuracy of the advertisement before agreeing to publish.

In addition, in certain limited cases, a true statement, if found to be irrelevant to the election or by passage of time, could be made subject to a libel/privacy court claim. Publishers should be particularly cautious of candidates or their agents who attempt to pressure a newspaper regarding last-minute-before-deadline political advertising submissions without the newspaper pausing to go through a legal “vetting” process.

3. Election season letters to the editor

Newspapers over the years have learned that letters to the editor many times are used as a means to endorse political candidates for local, state and national elections. History has proven that such letters may increase readership and thus many times are not only accepted, but expressly invited.

Letters to the editor should bear the same legal scrutiny as political advertisements for libel and privacy. In addition, history has established such letters are often submitted immediately before an election, seeking to get the “last word” in the final newspaper publication prior to an election. Thus, the submitter of such a last-minute letter to the editor may be attempting to leverage the newspaper’s deadlines to gain an advantage.

One way of managing the letters process is to publish an advance deadline for any letters to the editor addressing the upcoming election, and perhaps indicate that no political letters will be published in the last issue prior to the election.

4. Campaign contributions

One of the more interesting aspects of political news is the money received and spent by candidates — which candidate has received it and how much, from whom or from where did it come, how much has been spent, how much is left, and for what purposes was it spent, etc.

This is easily obtainable public information and provides appropriate news for journalism standards of public-interest news coverage.

Under state and local laws each candidate for public office must periodically file campaign finance reports with the identifying financial details of each campaign. These reports are public information and available upon request.

Candidates for local offices are required to file their periodic financial reports with the applicable local authority for the office they seek: city, school, special district (i.e. hospital, water, etc.), or county.

State candidates — including county officials, district judges, multiple-county district attorneys and candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate — are required to file with the Texas Ethics Commission.

As we move into the fall election season, with the General Election scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, there remain three key financial reporting dates to which each candidate must comply: (1) the 30-days-before-election report is due on Monday, Oct. 5; (2) the eight-days-before election report is due Monday, Oct. 26; and (3) the final, after-election, year-end-report is due Friday, Jan. 15, 2027.

Again, the Texas Ethics Commission has a very helpful internet website for all this information and explanations at “www.ethics.state.tx.us.”

Don Richards is a veteran Lubbock attorney specializing in media law. He also is a former newspaper owner.