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I have a new post up describing an alternative model in campaign coverage, the citizens agenda style. It's broken down into ten steps that any size newsroom can follow. pressthink.org/2019/06/key-st… Here I want to explain why the US press needs a model like this heading into 2020. 1/
Among students of the American presidency there used to be something called "news management." White Houses, it was said, had to be disciplined in the messages they were sending, and controlled in the news they were making. Consistent, too. All that has now melted into air. 2/
Trump's style is not news management, but message chaos, reflecting a chaotic personality. He makes too much news for his or our good. The only message discipline he knows is triggering a new whirlwind. People say his genius is for distraction. Like he can control any of this. 3/
In the news space that emerged around this style, the default setting is to follow the storms, scandals, blow-ups and controversies that the main character, Trump, is always causing. They can be deadly serious. Often, he's just good programming. Salacious. Surprising. Extreme. 4/
Let's say you're responsible for 2020 coverage in the US. You're going to need a plan for this. How to avoid getting drawn into the Trump vortex. Or as @Sulliview put it: don't let him become your "de facto assignment editor."
You need other sources of gravity to keep from being tossed about by Trump's storm machine. @mattdpearce faced this when he got handed the 2020 beat by @latimes. His decided to start with a Google form readers could fill out. “Tell me how you think I should cover 2020!” 6/
The way @mattdpearce saw it working: "You need to answer my questions about this, because I’m not just some reporter sitting in an office in Los Angeles or a fancy building. I represent thousands of people who have told me they want to hear about this." niemanlab.org/2019/05/assign… 7/
That's what I mean by other sources of gravity. Matt's is simple: People want to know about this. I know because I asked and they told me. Trying to get answers to his crowd's questions lets Pearce shine a distinct light on the campaign. 8/
"We want to approach our election coverage differently. As a reader-funded publication, we want to stay laser-focused on questions that matter to our readers." So said @TheTyee June 5 when it unveiled, The ‘Big Five’ Qs You Want Answered This Election. thetyee.ca/Tyeenews/2019/… 9/
They started by asking their readers, "What do you want candidates to be discussing as they compete for votes?" Some 600 replied. They took a week to organize them as a long list of questions that good campaign coverage could answer. Some 2000 readers voted on the final list. 10/
This is one of the five questions by which @TheTyee steered its campaign coverage: "What are the tax loopholes in Canada, how have other countries closed them, what are candidates willing to do to assure the rich pay their fair share and reverse the widening wealth gap?" 11/
My favorite part via @TheTyee: "We’re not just going to chase candidates around, stick microphones in their faces, and jot down whatever they say. We’ll dig into the roots of the problem, explain how we got here, look at who with power is blocking or speeding change, and..." 12/
By settling on a mission for its campaign coverage — go deep on getting answers to five major questions, which originate with readers — @TheTyee has a way to steer through the storms and return distinct value to its public. 13/
The Dublin Inquirer with a four person staff and community volunteers did the same thing. They asked in a survey they distributed, "What do you want the candidates in the upcoming local elections to be discussing as they compete for votes?” 14/ medium.com/@azirulnick/ca…
In the end, they boiled it down to 10 questions for every candidate. [See the screenshot.] Now their campaign coverage had a mission. Try to get all the candidates in the City Council election to talk about all of these things. 15/ 
I read that @daveweigel of the Washington Post has what he calls an "electorate first" approach, "focusing on taking the pulse of Democratic voters rather than zeroing in on individual candidates." politico.com/story/2019/05/… Makes sense when there are so many candidates. 16/
But I think "electorate first" coverage can be pushed much further. That's why I wrote my new post, which I hope you will read. "Key steps in the citizens agenda style of campaign coverage." pressthink.org/2019/06/key-st… It's my most concise description of it yet. 17/
"You cannot keep from getting sucked into Trump’s agenda without a firm grasp on your own. But where does that agenda come from? It can’t come from the journalists. Who cares what they think? It has to originate with the people you are trying to inform." From my latest post. 18/
"The agenda you got by listening to voters helps you hold to mission when temptation is to ride the latest media storm.'" pressthink.org/2019/06/key-st… And that's why something like a "citizen's agenda" should be part of 2020 coverage. There's a whirlwind coming, made of news. END
