Please sign and share our Open Letter
being sent to major media outlets:
“Urgent Need for Pro-Democracy
2022 Election Coverage“
These are our Media and Democracy Project recommended guidelines for better and pro-democracy media coverage for midterm elections. Please refer to them, save a copy and put them to use – ask journalists and media outlets to implement them. Stand up for democracy by being a engaged consumer of information. Follow and amplify us as we put them to use on Twitter @FixMediaNow
Hello!
Media coverage shapes voters understanding of the importance and stakes of elections. Presently, corporate media is failing. The next two elections are critical for the survival of our democracy. Yet, significant numbers of voters are unaware of the consequences of their vote, and the dangerous reality that the USA is considered a backsliding democracy. We need corporate media to sound the alarm about anti-democratic candidates and their anti-democracy strategies in advance of the midterm elections.
Examples of media failures include:
—”false equivalence” of candidates and anti-democratic extremists, also called “both-sides“
—”horse race” coverage that focuses on personalities and polls/”odds” instead of on issues, context, and consequences
—reliance on “euphemism,” such as failing to call lies “lies”
—”normalization” of extremism, neofascism, and white supremacy
Here is your list of actions to help demand and support more pro-democracy media coverage and to help #FixMediaNow!
Action #1 Join a list of illustrious thought leaders by signing and sharing our Open Letter: “Urgent Need for Pro-Democracy 2022 Election Coverage“. We are distributing this to ten leading media news organizations. Read and sign it here: https://bit.ly/Sign-On_Pro-democracyNewsSignatories of our Open Letter include: Bob McChesney (FreePress, “Dollarocracy”), Nancy MacLean (“Democracy in Chains”), Victor Pickard (“Democracy Without Journalism?”), Ruth Ben-Ghiat (“Strongmen,” expert on authoritarianism), Michael Krasner Poli Sci Professor Queens College + many other signatories here: https://www.mediaanddemocracyproject.org/signatories
More information about these recommended guidelines here: https://www.mediaanddemocracyproject.org/moreprodemocracycoverageAction #2 Follow and engage with our @FixMediaNow and @MAD_Democracy pro-democracy Twitter teams. Help us to demand more pro-democracy coverage, amplify good coverage, and hold poor coverage accountable in real time. Help #FixMediaNow
Action #3 Read and share this article by our “Media and Democracy Project Hero of the Week”: Dan Froomkin: The facts need a bullhorn: https://presswatchers.org/2022/10/the-facts-need-a-little-help/
Bonus: Vote with your wallet to support pro-democracy media, thank a journalist and outlet this week when you see good pro-democracy coverage, and subscribe to a local newspaper. Community journalism is essential to a functioning democracy and citizen engagement.
JOIN US @ UPCOMING EVENTS! RSVP (all virtual):10/18 TUESDAY Media and Democracy Project Meme Team – Work together to make pro-democracy memes and share them out in real time!10/24 MONDAY Our Media and Democracy Project bi-weekly General Meeting – newcomers are welcome. We will discuss our guidelines to help demand and support pro-democracy media coverage in advance of the 2022 midterm elections RSVP HERE
Please share this Newsletter and especially our actions with other folks—and feel free to share any suggestions or feedback with us.
Thank you.
In community,
Milo, Jonathan, Brian, Holley, Cecily, Al, Carolyn, Noelle and the entire Media and Democracy Project
MediaAndDemocracyProject.org
Email: milo@MediaAndDemocracyProject.org
