This isn’t so much of a prediction as it is a demand.
I’m tired of the both-sides-ism, which we’ve all talked aboutad nauseam, that is still being pumped out of our nation’s top news organizations. ENOUGH already.
There are not two sides to hate. There are not two sides to straight-up lies. There are not two sides to basic human rights and dignity.
There are not two sides to democracy.
For decades, the largest media organizations in the United States have styled themselves as the Fourth Estate. A free and fair press is critical to democracy, right? Or consider that “democracy dies in darkness.”
Yet the U.S. media keeps allowing itself to be used again and again and again as a tool against democracy because it cannot break out of a completely outdated way of covering politics.
There is a difference between covering democracy and elections, government, politics, and policy. Consider the following definitions, from Oxford Languages and Google:
This country’s dominant media companies focus far too much attention on politics, and not nearly enough on democracy and government. Politics, by its nature, can be divisive and polarizing and can drive traffic. It generates attractive headlines. And it’s generally formulaic, making it easy content to produce.
Anti-democracy actors in the U.S. have taken advantage of that — and the media has let them.
Moving out of this kind of mindset and into a pro-democracy mindset will take real change. It will take a serious self-reflection, the likes of which the contemporary media landscape in the U.S. has never seen. It will take rewriting of internal ethics codes, social media policies, and more.
Journalism organizations in the U.S. need to interrogate their relationship to democracy, and then stand up for the role they seek to fill. Let’s see one of our big media organizations step up and declare itself a pro-democracy newsroom, and spell out what that means and how it will shape their coverage. I’d like to see democracy mission statements, democracy reporters (which we are seeing in several newsrooms), and consistent, year-round coverage of how democracy and government works.
“The first thing news organizations have to do is announce they are pro-democracy, pro-truth, pro-science, pro-evidence and pro-voting,” CNN paraphrased New York University professor Jay Rosen as saying a year ago.
Here are a few more things I’d like to see:
Need more? Check out this thorough democracy reporting toolkit from Democracy SOS, the Citizen’s Agenda, and the new Center for Journalism and Democracy at Howard University.
We need this change.
Journalism as an industry needs to stop hiding behind its ethical standards and meet the moment. Otherwise, we’re going to both-sides-ourselves right into authoritarianism.
Stefanie Murray is director of the Center for Cooperative Media.
This isn’t so much of a prediction as it is a demand.
I’m tired of the both-sides-ism, which we’ve all talked aboutad nauseam, that is still being pumped out of our nation’s top news organizations. ENOUGH already.
There are not two sides to hate. There are not two sides to straight-up lies. There are not two sides to basic human rights and dignity.
There are not two sides to democracy.
For decades, the largest media organizations in the United States have styled themselves as the Fourth Estate. A free and fair press is critical to democracy, right? Or consider that “democracy dies in darkness.”
Yet the U.S. media keeps allowing itself to be used again and again and again as a tool against democracy because it cannot break out of a completely outdated way of covering politics.
There is a difference between covering democracy and elections, government, politics, and policy. Consider the following definitions, from Oxford Languages and Google:
This country’s dominant media companies focus far too much attention on politics, and not nearly enough on democracy and government. Politics, by its nature, can be divisive and polarizing and can drive traffic. It generates attractive headlines. And it’s generally formulaic, making it easy content to produce.
Anti-democracy actors in the U.S. have taken advantage of that — and the media has let them.
Moving out of this kind of mindset and into a pro-democracy mindset will take real change. It will take a serious self-reflection, the likes of which the contemporary media landscape in the U.S. has never seen. It will take rewriting of internal ethics codes, social media policies, and more.
Journalism organizations in the U.S. need to interrogate their relationship to democracy, and then stand up for the role they seek to fill. Let’s see one of our big media organizations step up and declare itself a pro-democracy newsroom, and spell out what that means and how it will shape their coverage. I’d like to see democracy mission statements, democracy reporters (which we are seeing in several newsrooms), and consistent, year-round coverage of how democracy and government works.
“The first thing news organizations have to do is announce they are pro-democracy, pro-truth, pro-science, pro-evidence and pro-voting,” CNN paraphrased New York University professor Jay Rosen as saying a year ago.
Here are a few more things I’d like to see:
Need more? Check out this thorough democracy reporting toolkit from Democracy SOS, the Citizen’s Agenda, and the new Center for Journalism and Democracy at Howard University.
We need this change.
Journalism as an industry needs to stop hiding behind its ethical standards and meet the moment. Otherwise, we’re going to both-sides-ourselves right into authoritarianism.
Stefanie Murray is director of the Center for Cooperative Media.
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Michael Schudson Journalism gets more and more difficult
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A.J. Bauer Covering the right wrong
Kavya Sukumar Belling the cat: The rise of independent fact-checking at scale
Andrew Donohue We’ll find out whether journalism can, indeed, save democracy
Stefanie Murray The year U.S. media stops screwing around and becomes pro-democracy
Don Day The news about the news is bad. I’m optimistic.
Victor Pickard The year journalism and capitalism finally divorce
Anna Nirmala News organizations get new structures
Jenna Weiss-Berman The economic downturn benefits the podcasting industry. (No, really!)
Ryan Kellett Airline-like loyalty programs try to tie down news readers
Sumi Aggarwal Smart newsrooms will prioritize board development
Jennifer Brandel AI couldn’t care less. Journalists will care more.
Nicholas Thompson The year AI actually changes the media business
Doris Truong Workers demand to be paid what the job is worth
Parker Molloy We’ll reach new heights of moral panic
Mael Vallejo More threats to press freedom across the Americas
Zizi Papacharissi Platforms are over
Jody Brannon We’ll embrace policy remedies
Jonas Kaiser Rejecting the “free speech” frame
Dannagal G. Young Stop rewarding elite performances of identity threat
Sam Guzik AI will start fact-checking. We may not like the results.
Mauricio Cabrera It’s no longer about audiences, it’s about communities
Susan Chira Equipping local journalism
Al Lucca Digital news design gets interesting again
Janet Haven ChatGPT and the future of trust
Surya Mattu Data journalists learn from photojournalists
Anita Varma Journalism prioritizes the basic need for survival
Snigdha Sur Newsrooms get nimble in a recession
Emma Carew Grovum The year to resist forgetting about diversity
Anthony Nadler Confronting media gerrymandering
Peter Sterne AI enters the newsroom
Ayala Panievsky It’s time for PR for journalism
Josh Schwartz The AI spammers are coming
Alexandra Svokos Working harder to reach audiences where they are
Juleyka Lantigua Newsrooms recognize women of color as the canaries in the coal mine
Burt Herman The year AI truly arrives — and with it the reckoning
Francesco Zaffarano There is no end of “social media”
Joe Amditis AI throws a lifeline to local publishers
Eric Nuzum A focus on people instead of power
Gabe Schneider Well-funded journalism leaders stop making disparate pay
Jessica Clark Open discourse retrenches
Gina Chua The traditional story structure gets deconstructed
Sam Gregory Synthetic media forces us to understand how media gets made
Felicitas Carrique and Becca Aaronson News product goes from trend to standard
Danielle K. Brown and Kathleen Searles DEI efforts must consider mental health and online abuse
Tim Carmody Newsletter writers need a new ethics
Daniel Trielli Trust in news will continue to fall. Just look at Brazil.
Mario García More newsrooms go mobile-first
Brian Stelter Finding new ways to reach news avoiders
Ben Werdmuller The internet is up for grabs again
Kirstin McCudden We’ll codify protection of journalism and newsgathering
Nicholas Diakopoulos Journalists productively harness generative AI tools
Jaden Amos TikTok personality journalists continue to rise
Andrew Losowsky Journalism realizes the replacement for Twitter is not a new Twitter
Wilson Liévano Diaspora journalism takes the next step
Khushbu Shah Global reporting will suffer
Anika Anand Independent news businesses lead the way on healthy work cultures
Kathy Lu We need emotionally agile newsroom leaders
Sarah Alvarez Dream bigger or lose out
Nicholas Jackson There will be launches — and we’ll keep doing the work
Mar Cabra The inevitable mental health revolution
Cindy Royal Yes, journalists should learn to code, but…
Martina Efeyini Talk to Gen Z. They’re the experts of Gen Z.
Elite Truong In platform collapse, an opportunity for community
Molly de Aguiar and Mandy Van Deven Narrative change trend brings new money to journalism
Matt Rasnic More newsroom workers turn to organized labor
Kerri Hoffman Podcasting goes local
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Well-being will become a core tenet of journalism
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Tamar Charney Flux is the new stability
Alex Perry New paths to transparency without Twitter
Sue Robinson Engagement journalism will have to confront a tougher reality
Jesse Holcomb Buffeted, whipped, bullied, pulled
Gordon Crovitz The year advertisers stop funding misinformation
Priyanjana Bengani Partisan local news networks will collaborate
Lisa Heyamoto The independent news industry gets a roadmap to sustainability
Michael W. Wagner The backlash against pro-democracy reporting is coming
Joshua P. Darr Local to live, wire to wither
David Skok Renewed interest in human-powered reporting
Cari Nazeer and Emily Goligoski News organizations step up their support for caregivers
Janelle Salanga Journalists work from a place of harm reduction
Walter Frick Journalists wake up to the power of prediction markets
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Joanne McNeil Facebook and the media kiss and make up
Karina Montoya More reporters on the antitrust beat
Jim VandeHei There is no “peak newsletter”
Ariel Zirulnick Journalism doubles down on user needs
Tre'vell Anderson Continued culpability in anti-trans campaigns
Emily Nonko Incarcerated reporters get more bylines
Christina Shih Shared values move from nice-to-haves to essentials
Eric Thurm Journalists think of themselves as workers
Mary Walter-Brown and Tristan Loper Mission-driven metrics become our North Star
Taylor Lorenz The “creator economy” will be astroturfed
Leezel Tanglao Community partnerships drive better reporting
Alexandra Borchardt The year of the climate journalism strategy
Upasna Gautam Technology that performs at the speed of news
Jakob Moll Journalism startups will think beyond English
An Xiao Mina Journalism in a time of permacrisis
Jarrad Henderson Video editing will help people understand the media they consume
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Simon Galperin Philanthropy stops investing in corporate media
David Cohn AI made this prediction
Megan Lucero and Shirish Kulkarni The future of journalism is not you
Sarabeth Berman Nonprofit local news shows that it can scale
Bill Grueskin Local news will come to rely on AI
Basile Simon Towards supporting criminal accountability
Rodney Gibbs Recalibrating how we work apart
Ryan Gantz “I’m sorry, but I’m a large language model”
Hillary Frey Death to the labor-intensive memo for prospective hires
Jessica Maddox Journalists keep getting manipulated by internet culture
Bill Adair The year of the fact-check (no, really!)
Johannes Klingebiel The innovation team, R.I.P.
Eric Holthaus As social media fragments, marginalized voices gain more power
Shanté Cosme The answer to “quiet quitting” is radical empathy
Peter Bale Rising costs force more digital innovation
Brian Moritz Rebuilding the news bundle
Esther Kezia Thorpe Subscription pressures force product innovation
Laxmi Parthasarathy Unlocking the silent demand for international journalism
Ryan Nave Citizen journalism, but make it equitable
Barbara Raab More journalism funders will take more risks
Amethyst J. Davis The slight of the great contraction
Cassandra Etienne Local news fellowships will help fight newsroom inequities
Eric Ulken Generative AI brings wrongness at scale
S. Mitra Kalita “Everything sucks. Good luck to you.”
Alan Henry A reckoning with why trust in news is so low
Pia Frey Publishers start polling their users at scale
Dana Lacey Tech will screw publishers over
Sarah Marshall A web channel strategy won’t be enough
Kaitlyn Wells We’ll prioritize media literacy for children
Paul Cheung More news organizations will realize they are in the business of impact, not eyeballs
Sue Cross Thinking and acting collectively to save the news
Raney Aronson-Rath Journalists will band together to fight intimidation
John Davidow A year of intergenerational learning
Julia Beizer News fatigue shows us a clear path forward
Masuma Ahuja Journalism starts working for and with its communities
Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau More of the same
Jacob L. Nelson Despite it all, people will still want to be journalists
Nikki Usher This is the year of the RSS reader. (Really!)
Joni Deutsch Podcast collaboration — not competition — breeds excellence
Cory Bergman The AI content flood
Dominic-Madori Davis Everyone finally realizes the need for diverse voices in tech reporting
Jim Friedlich Local journalism steps up to the challenge of civic coverage
Jennifer Choi and Jonathan Jackson Funders finally bet on next-generation news entrepreneurs
Richard Tofel The press might get better at vetting presidential candidates
Alex Sujong Laughlin Credit where it’s due
Mariana Moura Santos A woman who speaks is a woman who changes the world
Rachel Glickhouse Humanizing newsrooms will be a badge of honor
Julia Angwin Democracies will get serious about saving journalism
J. Siguru Wahutu American journalism reckons with its colonialist tendencies
Sarah Stonbely Growth in public funding for news and information at the state and local levels
Delano Massey The industry shakes its imposter syndrome
Larry Ryckman We’ll work together with our competitors
Errin Haines Journalists on the campaign trail mend trust with the public