📣We’re demanding that newsrooms improve their 2024 election coverage!

Today, the Media and Democracy Project, along with 3,258 individuals, sends an open letter to executives, publishers, and union leaders of major media organizations urging them to adopt our pro-democracy election coverage guidelines.

In the face of dire threats posed by those who lie about elections and refuse to accept the results, our democracy’s survival requires a newsroom reset.

Read our open letter, see our guidelines and who's signed, and add your name here:

1/MediaAndDemocracyProject.org/2024-election-… Our 18 guidelines encourage newsrooms to center fact-based reporting, push back against election lies, and uplift voting by switching their focus from polls and drama to candidates’ policies, past-governance, and behavior.

The guidelines fall under three categories:

1) Treat elections like they matter more than sports scores
2) Make threats to democracy clear
3) Protect Americans from disinformation

Voters need substantive coverage of the issues, not dumb coverage of who's up and who's down. 2/

Today we are excited to announce three major steps forward in holding Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch accountable.

1. One of the most influential TV executives of our time joined us.

Jamie Kellner is the founding executive of Fox TV. He is a broadcasting industry expert. /1

Jamie knows how the FCC works, how the media industry works, and he knows in previous decades the FCC used its mandate from Congress to push for a better media.

The FCC has lost that desire.
(@KarlBode - Big Cable “lobotomized the FCC”)
We, with allies like Jamie, say: wake up.

https://twitter.com/karlbode/status/1550130077152579585

The right has weaponized free speech at every turn. The Roberts Court and Fed Soc have helped.

We filed to ask the FCC to evaluate Murdoch ownership of local TV. So what did Fox scream about? The First Amendment, of course.
But American history shows this is wrong. /1

https://twitter.com/sulliview/status/1687224024135278592

Free speech is a democratic principle. It means the government cannot censor speech based on content, with a few exceptions. One of those is the actual-malice defamation standard Murdoch and Fox violated.

But forget that for a second.
/2

Ted Cruz, like his billionaire and Big Cable allies, tries to weaponize free speech to protect the wealthy and powerful.
Cruz knows Rupert Murdoch's Fox told knowing lies, paying $787M under threat of liability for (Constitutional!) defamation./1

https://twitter.com/SenTedCruz/status/1677308077945528322

Our First Amendment calls for a free press and for free speech. But that does not protect unfettered lying that harms others.

Defamation law applies the very high "actual malice" standard and is a Constitutional limit on speech. /2

“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

salon.com/2022/10/23/med… “…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

🧵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.

We wrote an open letter to journalists urging pro-democracy election coverage. 2/8
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…

🧵 NEW: Our team analyzed all 816 guests on five Sunday Shows in 2021.

What was our main finding?

Sunday Shows do not inform the public! Most guests are politicians, few are experts, and topics are limited.

Our full research report is available at: MediaAndDemocracyProject.org/sundayshows

1/6 Why don't viewers learn anything from the Sunday Shows?

Over 50% of all guests—across all 5 shows we reviewed—are politicians, not experts.

Discussions focus on the political process instead of expert input on topics of major importance that Americans need to learn about.

2/6

“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

blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2022/… and also the need for reporters to have trusted experts to rely on — not just politicians and bad-faith manipulators.

To inform the public it is not enough just to report on what several people say. Journalists MUST have some expertise they can draw on.
/2

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…

https://twitter.com/drvolts/status/1516826933492805634

Jay Rosen and @brianbeutler have repeatedly said the right wants to destroy journalism.
(follow them!)

https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/1323068094307307522

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/