FILE PHOTO: A ballot is placed into a locked ballot box by a poll worker as people line-up to vote early at the San Diego County Elections Office in San Diego, California, U.S., November 7, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
Three dozen journalism and civil rights organizations, along with journalists, have called on the media to cover the rise of authoritarianism and the threat to democracy.
The organizations and journalists wrote in part:
We, more than three-dozen civil-society, consumer-rights and journalistic organizations, write with an urgent call for news outlets to accurately and unapologetically report on U.S. elections, the state of our democracy and civil rights. Following the assassination attempt on former President Trump, some pundits and politicians have suggested that the media refrain from covering mounting authoritarianism in this country. We urge news outlets to wholeheartedly reject such a dereliction of journalistic duty, and to rigorously report threats to our democracy.
Media coverage shapes both public discourse and people’s understanding of events of the day. This is particularly critical during contentious and extreme times such as these. Media coverage can invite public engagement and robust participation in the democratic process. It can also be manipulated to promote falsehoods for political gain, to silence dissent and stoke racism. Under news standards developed in the last century to counter manipulation and low-quality reporting, the media have broadly made an effort to adhere to hallmarks of good reporting through fact-checking, transparency, and other practices best codified by the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics.
However, these measures aren’t enough to meet the political landscape we face today. We have witnessed the resurgence of white-supremacist values on social media and in real life events like the tragedy in Charlottesville in 2017. We have seen the rise of political figures who fan the flames of bigotry and reject the rule of law. And in the run-up to Jan. 6, 2021, the right-wing media spread disinformation that played a role in disrupting the peaceful transition of power.
In these moments, media coverage has routinely failed to adequately expose these dangers for audiences. Too often, extremist values and coverage have made their way into mainstream-media reporting, shifting what is considered “normal” or “acceptable” in public discourse — with devastating impacts on people of color, women, immigrants the LGBTQIA+ community and other vulnerable populations. Media companies should not make false equivalencies between those who are trying to protect democracy and those who are seeking to overthrow it.
Journalistic ethics are not enough. The media has done a terrible job f explaining the threat to democracy that the nation currently faces. All too often, the press spends its time trying to normalize Trump’s anti-democratic worldview.
Democracy is not a partisan issue, so journalists need to stop treating it like it is. Some journalists seem to be fearful that they will be labeled partisan if they stand for democracy, but the fact that the Republican Party sees defending democracy as liberal is a big part of the problem.
An informed electorate should be a core mission of journalism, and right now the ball is being dropped during on of the most perilous times for democracy in our nation’s history.
Read the full letter:
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