More than 30 journalism and civil rights groups, as well as journalists, called on the media to report on the rise of authoritarianism and threats to democracy.
Organisations and journalists wrote:
We, more than 30 civil society, consumer rights and journalism organizations, urgently call on news organizations to provide accurate and uncompromising coverage of the state of U.S. elections, democracy and civil rights in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Trump.Some commentators and politicians have suggested that the media should refrain from reporting on the growing authoritarianism in the country. We urge media outlets to wholeheartedly reject this dereliction of journalistic duty and rigorously report on threats to democracy.
Media coverage shapes both the public debate and people’s understanding of the events of the day. This is especially important in contentious and extreme times like the current one. Media coverage can encourage people’s engagement and active participation in the democratic process. It can also be manipulated to spread falsehoods for political gain, silence dissent, or incite racism. Building on news standards developed in the last century to combat manipulation and low-quality reporting, media have made widespread efforts to adhere to the hallmarks of good reporting through fact-checking, transparency, and other practices best codified in the Society of Journalists’ Code of Ethics.
But these measures are inadequate to address the political climate we currently find ourselves in. 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 politicians who stoke bigotry and reject the rule of law. And in the run-up to January 6, 2021, right-wing media played a role in spreading disinformation and disrupting the peaceful transition of power.
In moments like these, media coverage routinely fails to fully communicate these dangers to audiences. Too often, extremist values and reporting permeate mainstream media coverage, shifting what is considered “normal” or “acceptable” in the public sphere, with devastating consequences for people of color, women, immigrants, the LGBTQIA+ community, and other vulnerable people. Media companies should not falsely equate those who seek to defend democracy with those who seek to subvert it.
Journalistic ethics alone are not enough. The media has done a terrible job of explaining the threats to democracy the nation currently faces. They have too often spent time trying to normalize Trump’s anti-democratic worldview.
Democracy is not a partisan issue, so journalists need to stop treating it as such. Some journalists seem to fear that supporting democracy will lead them to be labeled as partisan, but the fact that Republicans see defending democracy as being liberal is a big part of the problem.
Informing voters should be journalism’s core mission, and right now, at the most perilous moment for democracy in our nation’s history, that mission is being failed.
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