The Bulletin and its parent company EO Media Group tested the waters this week with a small, intimate Q&A session called Brews and News at its Bend office.

Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, our first guest, spoke to a small group of about 30 people who, while sipping beer and wine, heard him give detailed explanations as to why he ran for congress and his voting philosophy.

We had about 100 people viewing on our website streaming feed, too. More than 650 have viewed the recorded video since. One can view the forum and read the accompanying story here.

The goal of this type of forum is to present candidates, or newsmakers, in a smaller, relaxed venue to give them time to discuss their issues in detail.

In a contentious election year, the airwaves are full of soundbites, but viewers fail to get a deeper insight. And in past election years The Bulletin has conducted debate forums, which, in my mind, truly do help the undecided to make up their minds about who to vote for. But they also left something to be desired. Elections have become so contentious; the issues tend to get much attention, and are replaced with trading barbs and scoring points on the opponent. The party line becomes the headline.

We hope these gatherings become useful. We ask you, our readers, to send us suggestions of topics you’d like to hear more about, or speakers who could provide answers to issues that the public hasn’t heard from. You can email us at letters@bendbulletin.com

We hope this becomes a regular event. It is one of the many things The Bulletin and EO Media are doing to bring you news you can truly act on, be it the voting booth or something needed in your neighborhood.

Thanks for reading.

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Gerry O’Brien, Editor