Kingsbury and representatives from the Times did not respond for comment to POLITICO prior to publication. But Kingsbury later told Times staff that her goal was to make the endorsement process “our most transparent to date.”

“These illuminating endorsement interviews have historically happened behind closed doors,” she wrote in a memo, “so we've decided to experiment with a new level of openness.”

The Times’s decision to give viewers a glimpse into the process is a break with the traditionally back-room proceedings and demonstrates how the paper is increasingly adding a television component to showcase its journalism.

For instance, Sunday night’s episode of “The Weekly” covered the Times’s investigation into claims of a secret trove of Jeffrey Epstein information, a story that appeared online and led the Sunday Business section in print.

The Times has also been incorporating video in new ways this cycle, such as its reporters’ putting the same 18 questions to 21 Democratic contenders earlier this year.

In her pitch to the campaigns, Kingsbury said the Times believes “that putting these interviews on the record is a public service to our readers” and “gives voters insight into the criteria — experience, character, knowledge of issues — that inform our endorsements, as well as allows us to showcase the research and reporting that direct the endorsement process.”

Those deliberations this cycle will not include the paper’s editorial page editor. James Bennet, who assumed that role in 2016, has recused himself from 2020 opinion coverage while his brother, Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, is in the presidential race.

In addition to the editorial board, which consists of 14 journalists, some editors and writers from the Opinion section will be invited to candidate interviews.

The Times plans to reveal its Democratic endorsement on the Jan. 19, 2020 episode of “The Weekly,” with the decision running in the next day’s print edition. The 90-minute candidate interviews are expected to begin Monday and continue through Dec. 17.

The Times hasn't yet decided whether to take a similar approach with its general election endorsement, Kingsbury told staff, as editors will assess whether readers find this new approach "informative or overwhelming."

