Journalists: Do these 5 things before the election to demonstrate credibility
In this election cycle, journalists are keenly aware of the heightened importance of providing coverage to their communities that is seen as both relevant and trustworthy.
And as we continually witness, people often aren’t inclined to give journalists the benefit of the doubt. Instead, they are more likely to assume your news coverage is biased and driven by an individual’s or management’s political agenda.
With the midterm elections fast approaching and most newsrooms already in the thick of providing coverage for their communities, we want to share some quick, actionable things journalists can do to help increase the impact and credibility of their elections coverage.
This post is some of our top election-related advice consolidated into one place, and are all strategies we believe newsrooms can enact in these final weeks ahead of the election (i.e. you can attach these to your current coverage!).
You can jump to each section below by clicking the header, or just keep scrolling!
- Make basic information easy to find
- Explain your mission and goals
- Make endorsements (and opinion content) clear
- Avoid polarizing words and frameworks
- Invest in reading (and responding to) comments
1. Make basic information easy to find
As journalists, we strive to provide in-depth, thoughtful analysis and coverage of issues and candidates for our communities. But sometimes we can miss the fact that many people are simply seeking the most basic of election information.
Basic information like: Which candidates are running? What initiatives will people be voting on (and what language will be used to describe these on the ballot)? Where can people register to vote? Or turn in their mail-in ballots?
While you’ve likely already answered these questions in your coverage, remember most people just see a small portion of the coverage you provide. And on top of that, many people in the public are just now starting to pay attention to the election, or will only seek out information when they’re filling out their ballots, or getting ready to go to the polls.
Start by imagining everyone is a first-time voter. What would people need to know about the election? How easy would it be to understand your coverage? Would people be able to search and find answers to things on your website?
Make a list of those questions, and then think about the best way to provide those explanations. Some ideas: You could create an FAQ page that links to the coverage you’ve done or a box that runs alongside election coverage, that links to this basic information.
Here’s how Colorado Public Radio did this with their election FAQ page in 2020.
We also love this example from the Times Union. They created an FAQ page that explains: what they cover, how everyone named in a story has the chance to comment, independence between editorials and news , and reporters’ own biases.
2. Share your mission and goals
Does your audience know about your goals for election coverage? Or, like so much of journalism’s internal deliberations, are your guiding purpose and principles invisible to outsiders?
We know a lot of newsrooms have a strategy for covering the elections. You’ve likely been deliberating for months about which topics and coverage will best serve your audience. You’ve had discussions and made decisions about how you’ll be fair and ethical.
But oftentimes these decisions, discussions and goals are not shared with your audience. So we challenge you to try something different: Instead of keeping all of your planning and decision-making internal, share what you are doing publicly. Explain the focus of your stories, discuss what issues and races you are prioritizing and why, share how you’re working to be fair and independent, and talk about the goals of your overall coverage.
We recommend you start by explaining your why; your who, your how, and your what. (We wrote more about what this means and how you can do this here.)
If you’re struggling to get started, here’s an outline of how it could look for your organization. Feel free to copy and adapt for your newsroom.
Our goal at [news organization] is to provide you with independent, fair, credible election coverage that will help inform and empower you as a voter. Our coverage is based on facts and is [focused on these topics, in these areas]. Our journalists are committed to providing coverage that’s relevant and useful to you as a voter. They also work hard to hold each other accountable for being open-minded and fair in their coverage. Have questions or feedback? Here’s how you can get in touch.
Once written, we recommend you share it alongside your election coverage: as an editor’s note at the top of the stories, embedded on election landing pages, shared on social, said on air by anchors, or included in any election-focused newsletters.
Here’s a look at how other local newsrooms we’ve worked with have done this.
- Station WCPO explained its election coverage plan and philosophies ahead of the 2020 election.
- WUSF included its election mission statement in a shaded box alongside its Democracy 2022 coverage page.
- The Texas Tribune created a page explaining how the staff plans to approach the 2022 election
3. Clarify endorsements (and opinion content)
If your news organization has an editorial board that writes endorsements, runs nationally syndicated opinion content about the election, or includes local or guest opinions, be extremely careful to label and separate this content from your news coverage.
So often, we see people get confused by endorsements or opinion pieces, thinking that opinion content stands for the entire paper and staff. And this makes sense, right? Typically endorsement headlines have the newsroom’s name, colon, and then an opinion on who to vote for. Without explanation, of course people get tripped up by this and think it’s a signal of bias in the actual news cover.
Start by making sure you label all opinion content with clear wording (using the word “opinion” works best!). Post the link like you’re going to share it on social, and see if the opinion label transfers to all platforms you publish that content on. Even if your news organization doesn’t share opinion content on social, others could, and you want to make sure labels travel with the story on every platform.
We also recommend that in addition to clearly labeling all opinion content, you explain whose opinion is being shared and why. Whether guest op-eds or endorsements, give a brief explanation of why your news organization is highlighting different opinions and viewpoints in the community. State how those opinions are independent and do not influence news coverage. Point to how you’re trying to be fair and present opinions from all valid sides of an issue.
Articulate this in a few sentences and put it at the top of every editorial or opinion piece as an editor’s note or in a box — anywhere people might see it. Here are some examples of how the San Fransisco Chronicle and The Tennessean did this.
Want more guidance? Check out how you can take stock of your clarity around opinion content with our step-by-step guide.
4. Avoid possible polarizing headlines and words
Too often, journalism amplifies extreme views and ignores more nuanced ones. It reinforces the idea that people are split into political camps. It oversimplifies or stereotypes groups of people and gives the impression that people who agree on one thing likely all agree on completely separate issues.
Our team and our partner journalists have asked news consumers to describe the signals that make stories feel fair or unfair. People often point to simple word choices — small things that seem to convey where the journalists are coming from and how they feel about the sources and ideas presented in their stories.
Was a win “surprising”? Is someone’s stance “strident” or “relentless” or “unapologetic”? Does a family’s monthly grocery bill add up to “only” $1,000? (And what does putting words in quotes signify about the writer’s attitude toward the words?)
Journalists’ word choices and framing of stories communicate a mix of literal and connotative meanings.
Working alongside partner newsrooms this past year, we learned that by being more aware of word choices and story framing, journalists can avoid sending accidental signals about their own views and about whose values the content is reflecting.
Here are some resources to help:
- A list of words to watch out for, including language that might spice up a story but can also convey a perspective or attitude, or words that might give away your own assumptions or viewpoints of an issue.
- A checklist to run your headlines through, because users make snap judgments about your coverage, so careless headlines can quickly turn off and undermine the careful work you put into stories.
- An anti-polarization checklist to help you pause and examine how your story might be perceived by people with different values and experiences.
Want more guidance? Read more about the research and resources we created to help journalists make their content less polarizing.
5. Invest in reading (and responding to) comments
The comment section isn’t always a fun place to hang out. There are usually some nasty comments, trolls and other things we’d probably like to just ignore.
But we know that negative comments impact people’s perceptions of a news organization and its credibility — and that too often, we’re not present to defend ourselves. If people are questioning the fairness and ethics of your elections coverage in the comments — or making any accusations or assumptions about your motives or reporting processes — it’s worth taking the time to respond and clear up misconceptions.
When you see someone making a negative assumption or accusation about your work, try to turn their complaint into a question. What kind of information are they needing, or missing, that’s causing them to assume the worst? Try answering and redirecting them in a neutral tone.
Get curious about people’s perceptions of your election coverage (even negative ones). Watch for questions people have about the election process that you could help answer, and invest some time in engaging with and responding to your community.
Also, it’s good to keep in mind that many more people read the comments than actually comment themselves. So that means it’s worth it to defend yourself and your coverage, even if the original commenter seems unreasonable. A lot more people are seeing those comments (and your responses) than are weighing in on the conversation.
Not sure how to jump into comments? We have tips and suggested language for how you can defend your work without sounding defensive.
We’re here to help
The Trusting News team is here to offer support for journalists and newsrooms during this election season.
If you’re facing challenges responding to user perceptions, need help brainstorming, or want ideas on how your elections coverage can be seen as more credible and trustworthy, reach out to us on Twitter or via email at info@trustingnews.org.
Want more tips, advice and election inspiration?
For the next few weeks, we’re tailoring our weekly Trust Tips newsletter around helpful, actionable things journalists and newsrooms can do ahead of the midterms. Sign up here to get it in your inbox weekly.
At Trusting News, we learn how people decide what news to trust and turn that knowledge into actionable strategies for journalists. We train and empower journalists to take responsibility for demonstrating credibility and actively earning trust through transparency and engagement. We’re co-hosted by the Reynolds Journalism Institute and the American Press Institute. Subscribe to our Trust Tips newsletter. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Read more about our work at TrustingNews.org.
