My last comment was a followup response to the earlier question. Here's a response to the "is that journalism?" question:
I think both of those are forms of journalism, actually. In the role of the 4th estate, our job is to be the forum for the elucidation and illumination of the issues that are important to the community, to involve the community in the conversation and to reflect to the community what it's actually doing. The newspapers are all taking the time to vet candidates through endorsement interviews, but the public isn't actually invited to do any of the work of that, and many people would gladly participate in that work.  Television stations host debates, but mostly those are vehicles for them to showcase how talented their talent is. And also sell a bunch of ads. What we're talking about is bringing the public into the conversation in a way that is sophisticated, civil, and productive. The Citizens League used the 3-day forum to help them select a candidate to endorse.