What does it mean to have a pro-democracy newsroom? The SPJ DC Chapter hosted U.S. Democracy Day coordinators and journalists Beatrice Forman and Jaisal Noor to explain the concept, why it’s important, and offer real-world tips for reporters and editors.
Their well-organized training, enhanced by a power-point presentation, made clear that a newsroom that is pro-democracy operates out of the assumption that democracy is a fundamental value for governing in this country. It has nothing to do with partisanship, but it offers a foundation for framing coverage that not only better informs citizens but also increases trust and engagement in the news media.
Both large and small newsrooms, as well as student journalists can change their coverage from horse-race to pro-democracy, Forman and Noor insisted. Forman, now a breaking news reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, recalled that as editor of her University of Pennsylvania student paper, her paper “did a lot of pro-democracy work,” helping to interpret local, state and national elections by reporting on their impact on the life of the Philadelphia community.
Noor, Democracy Cohort Manager for Solutions Journalism Network, pointed out research that showed that horse-race coverage wasn’t always the norm. In the 1960s, the news media spent a lot of time covering the issues and their impact on voters. Over time, however, “the balance between issue and horse-race coverage has been lost,” he said. When surveyed, 46% of people who have reduced their news consumption say they would be drawn to stories that emphasized solutions, he added. An even larger percentage of people – 64% — are more likely to access news that presses candidates for their proposals for addressing the problems in their local communities.
The training provoked a number of probing questions from the audience, focused on the challenge of calling out anti-democracy conduct such as election denial, and voter suppression without facing questions of bias. But both Forman and Noor stressed that holding candidates accountable for subverting democratic norms and values served the public and the journalism profession, and also made good business sense. Pro-democracy coverage also includes educating citizens about the voting process, and focusing coverage on the issues and problems that citizens prioritize in their respective communities.
Informing citizens about “how to vote and engage civically is non-partisan,” Forman said. “It is strengthening Democracy writ large.”
Celia Wexler is the author of Catholic Women Confront Their Church (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016) and Out of the News (McFarland, 2012), the winner of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Excellence in Journalism award for journalism history.