"They [journalists] are supposed to invoke neither fear nor favor. How do they navigate the sticky wicket of a two-party system in which only one party seems to value the truth?"
#journalism
newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/6244…
"this coming election will include many state-level positions, and that many of those candidates are running on the Big Lie.
...
Hard to treat a person as a normal candidate when one of his main positions is undermining democracy."
#journalism
newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/6244…
“The mainstream press (the reality-based press, to distinguish them from the right-wing press) should focus on what's good for citizens and not the horse race aspect of the midterms, and they should call out lies clearly.”
~@Sulliview
#journalism
newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/6244…
Truth Sandwich:
Always LEAD WITH THE TRUTH, not the lies.
Do **NOT** put GOP lies FIRST in your tweets, headlines, and/or articles.
Giving lies primacy, gives them validity.
Give the truth primacy, not the lies.
#LeadWithTheTruth
#LedeWithTheTruth (<for the journalists)
"Mainstream media should cover the midterms ... by avoiding treating the two parties as equal and opposite ‘sides’ when they aren’t, especially when it comes to the preservation of U.S. democracy."
~@Jon_Allsop
#journalism
newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/6244…
"start with a more urgent contest:
those from both parties who still abide by the norms of American democracy
vs.
those who have demonstrated they do not..."
~@jayrosen_nyu
#journalism
newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/6244…
"The idea that media should have a prodemocracy bias is a good one.
It would help us focus on politicians straying from democratic norms, and highlight antidemocratic plays like disenfranchising voters."
~@MollyJongFast
#journalism
newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/6244…
"we have to avoid treating this [deception] as ‘clever positioning,’
... that helps Republicans get away with continuing to undermine democracy, rather than calling out their strategy for the antidemocratic bad acting that it really is.”
~@ThePlumLineGS
newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/6244…
"traditional media has neither the ability nor the willingness to serve as a bulwark against right-wing authoritarianism...
...should push the media to stop normalizing dangerously abnormal behavior and prioritizing balance over accuracy."
~@danpfeiffer
newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/6244…
GOP sees mid-terms "as an opportunity not merely to install Republicans in govt, but to install pro-Trump, antidemocratic functionaries in govt...
media must not cover these midterms as business as usual, because “business as usual” could end democracy."
newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/6244…
[see also...
"Authoritarianism and subverting elections aren’t theoretical ideas. They’ve become strategies for Republicans.
And it’s time for the media to unequivocally and unapologetically condemn both."
~@brianklaas
#journalism
“We in the media MUST do more to stand up for democracy against authoritarianism.
Not taking a side is taking a side.”
~@JoyAnnReid
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor”
~Elie Wiesel
#journalism
"the both-sides dynamic remains — big time. The US doesn’t have some generic problem called “voting” or “democracy” — the problem is, specifically, that many key figures in the Republican Party are acting to erode democracy & voting rights"
~@perrybaconjr
"The media today ... Had they been covering John Lewis on the bridge, one shudders to think that they might have “scored” that day as a win for the Alabama troopers who met the marchers with clubs and tear gas."
~@JRubinBlogger
"Too many journalists are caught in a mindless neutrality between democracy and its saboteurs, between fact and fiction.
It’s time to take a stand."
~@Milbank
#journalism
"Mainstream journalists want their work to be perceived as fair-minded and nonpartisan. They want to defend themselves against charges of bias.
So they equalize the unequal."
~@Sulliview
washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/medi…
#journalism
Journalist Jennifer Rubin @JRubinBlogger has some suggestions for how to avoid “false balance syndrome” when covering politics.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
If you can’t access the article, here’s a thread of her suggestions:
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