MEDIA
Our media system
is broken.
Hundreds of communities across the country no longer have a local-news outlet. The local newsrooms that do exist often fail to serve their communities’ needs. Often, there are no local stories about democracy or election issues.
Democracy suffers when the media doesn’t work. Without local news, fewer people vote, fewer people volunteer and fewer people run for public office. Without local news, corruption increases and connections to our neighbors fray. Democracy needs the kind of media that engage people in civic life.
During an important election year, newsrooms have an opportunity to step up and give people the information they need. Let’s start with the basics for 2024:
(Click the ‘+’ to read more.)
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The rhetoric of authoritarian leaders and the expression of autocratic values delegitimize the democratic process. This rhetoric dehumanizes minority groups, flouts the rule of law and supports violence or retribution against critics and even the media itself. Reporting on the extreme values, speech and behaviors of political figures, candidates, political parties and other influencers must be done directly and without equivocation or the pretext of “balanced” coverage. Your companies must courageously and explicitly refuse to normalize authoritarian practices and language from candidates, political parties and other figureheads by framing such practices and language for audiences as extreme.
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Misinformation and false claims can spread rapidly during heightened crisis periods, undermining trust in the democratic process. Newsrooms must verify information from reliable sources before publishing and promptly correct any inaccuracies. The more times a lie is repeated, even in casual references, the harder it is to later debunk that lie for readers. Clearly call a lie a lie when it is uttered, particularly by political figures, candidates, parties, platforms, and influential individuals. Remind audiences that misinformation is ripe when crises unfold.
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If a political candidate, party or other influential platform applauds illegal activity and rejects the rule of law, reporters and other media professionals must take these threats seriously as they are overt attacks on a functional democracy. So too must reporting explain why the undermining of the rule of law and attacks on civic institutions, including attacks on journalists and news-reporting efforts more broadly, lay the groundwork for normalizing these anti-democratic values.
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Headlines matter. So do the sources cited. So does imagery. Editors and journalists must practice caution and care in how they select these elements of news reporting. Often, readers may not even read beyond the headline or opening paragraph. Lies repeated in TV and radio coverage minus careful framing can mislead viewers and listeners to assume the wrong facts. Use descriptors when real dangers present themselves to the public and democracy.
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Assume audiences know only some history or background on a given subject. American democracy is built on a foundation of checks and balances against authoritarianism. Err on the side of including more of this sort of historical context and explain “how we got here.” More background will help inform audiences and mitigate assumptions where reporting has left gaps in history, politics or details.
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Don’t stray from your obligation to provide your audiences with the civic information they need to participate more fully in their communities and country. Bad actors have spread misinformation to prevent or dissuade certain classes of people from exercising their right to vote in elections. Only 28 percent of Americans feel “very informed” about local elections. A majority of Americans think democracy is in crisis and feel politically alienated in some fashion. News outlets like yours are obliged to set the record straight, provide accurate information about the process and encourage everyone to participate in democracy.
