WaPo media columnist presents ‘prescription’ for cowl ‘threats to democracy’ in last op-ed

Washington Put up media columnist Margaret Sullivan urged that Donald Trump operating for president in 2024 may put democracy in danger in her last op-ed for the paper on Sunday.

Sullivan remarked how she was requested in regards to the media’s protection of “threats to democracy” after her retirement was introduced. She claimed she alternated between “inspired” and “despairing” and admitted that the opportunity of Trump operating for president once more in 2024 “goes to be an actual check for the reality-based press.”

“I’m typically reminded of the troubling questions posed by ABC Information’s Jonathan Karl in a number of interviews late final yr about what it will imply to cowl Trump if and when he runs for president once more. He deemed it maybe the best problem American political reporters will ever face,” Sullivan stated.

Varied media retailers and Democrats have referred to as on journalists to desert “both-sidesism” when reporting on politicians in favor of defending “democracy.” Whereas Sullivan stopped wanting calling on journalists to root for Trump’s “rivals,” she complimented efforts to reframe conversations in regards to the former president and different allies.

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“The media has come an extended, good distance in determining cowl the democracy-threatening methods of Donald Trump and his allies, together with his stalwart helpers in right-wing media. It’s now frequent to see headlines and tales that plainly confer with some politicians as ‘election deniers,’ and journalists are far much less hesitant to make use of the blunt and clarifying phrase ‘lie’ to explain Trump’s false statements,” Sullivan wrote.

For one more instance, she referenced current protection on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ announcement that 20 folks had been charged for voter fraud in his state and the way media ought to cowl matters with “loads of context and considerate framing.”

“As Kate Pickert, director of Loyola Marymount’s journalism program, famous final week, AP’s Twitter information alert took DeSantis’s hyperventilating information convention at face worth, offering the form of remedy the governor may need written himself: ‘Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis introduced prison prices in opposition to 20 folks for illegally voting in 2020, the primary main public transfer from the Republican’s controversial new election police unit.’ Whereas the New York Instances tweet lower via the noise (I’ve added the italics): ‘Gov. Ron DeSantis stated 17 folks have been charged with casting unlawful ballots within the 2020 election, by which 11.1 million Floridians voted. There may be no proof that election crimes are a major problem in Florida or anyplace else within the U.S,’” Sullivan defined.

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She added, “So my prescription — and it’s solely a begin — is much less stay marketing campaign protection, extra context and considerate framing, and extra fearless straight speak from information leaders about what’s at stake and why politics protection seems to be completely different.”

Forward of the Jan. 6 anniversary, Sullivan beforehand pleaded for media organizations so as to add a “new emphasis” on selling extra “pro-democracy” protection earlier than it’s “too late.” Whereas media organizations have improved and The Put up has since created a “Democracy Workforce,” she nervous “that it’s not practically sufficient.” 

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She warned, “The deeper query is whether or not information organizations can break freed from their hidebound practices — the love of political battle, the dependancy to elections as a horse race — to deal with these issues successfully. For the sake of democracy, they have to.”

This text was initially revealed by foxnews.com. Learn the original article here.