🧵We're building a people powered movement to create a better informed electorate. We've written articles, created guidelines for better coverage, led trainings in how to write letters to the editor, how to engage with the journalists who tell us about the world...1/
We've organized folks to demand a working #FCC and exposed efforts to keep it in service to conglomerates. We will work every angle possible to get out from under the yolk of a commercialized system for informing the public because we are currently systemically under-informed. 2/
Every progressive change in this country has been the result of people agitating for it. Join us.
“Time for media to treat elections as more important than sports.”
Our piece by co-founder Brian Hansbury, calling for pro-democracy media, in @Salon today. Much more in article. Please read and retweet. Excerpts in thread: /1
“…article had the potential to be an example of reporting that uplifts voting [and democracy]. But its headline undermined all that by blasting disinformation…”
Reporters, editors, headline writers, execs: this is all of us. All hands on deck for democracy. /2
We think that reporting on the big picture is essential — and failing to discuss the big picture misleads the public.
“Neutral euphemisms like "election denier" confer validity to a strategic [anti-democracy] disinformation campaign.”
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🧵As @jayrosen_nyu notes, “[Journalists] have to recognize that the picture of politics on which they base their practices is shattered.”
Brave journalism is required to separate truth from lies & overcome the midterm threat to democracy.
Let's explore do's and don'ts. 1/8
The 2022 midterms aren't a traditional election, but rather a contest between those willing to uphold our democratic system and those telling lies to win at all costs.
Journalists must make threats to democracy clear. Too often election coverage is about drama, a game of who's up & who's down. Even as many prepare to overturn elections they don't win, major media treats the whole of the GOP as worthy candidates. Liars are made viable. 3/8
“The thesis does a media studies analysis of Section 230 coverage. …horrified by the mainstream media’s failures in covering Section 230 when it mattered the most.”
This post from @ericgoldman is clear-eyed about bothsidesism privileging lies, and /1
Absolutely excellent piece from @pareene here about the right wanting to destroy journalism. Their “journalism” outlets are pale shadows of news; their goal is to assert power. @drvolts has been on this beat for a long time. Here’s some more — in thread…
Introducing the Media and Democracy Project 📰 📺 📻:
We are a grassroots group of concerned citizens who launched an activist campaign in 2020 to demand that our media provide truth, context, and transparency in every piece of reporting. #FixMediaNow 1/ MediaAndDemocracyProject.org
We believe an informed citizenry is the bedrock of a democratic society. The information we receive from media affects and shapes our opinions, voting decisions, degree of civic engagement, and ultimately determines the health of our society. We must @FixMediaNow#FixMediaNow 2/
Robust news and democracy go together. “A popular [democratically elected] Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance…” —James Madison #FixMediaNow 3/