Newsroom Help Desk: Navigating election coverage after Trump rally shooting
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By Massarah Mikati
Updated Wednesday, July 17, 2024
At a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, former President Donald Trump was shot at. Politicians from every persuasion have issued statements condemning political violence, saying it has no place in American democracy.
We’ve pulled together some resources to support journalists as they rush to cover this story, its aftermath and clench for what additional political violence this may incite, while not also contributing to the root causes. In addition, we’re in contact with experts at the National Council on Election Integrity, Faces of Democracy and other nonpartisan civic groups ready to share research and context directly with reporters. Contact democracy@wearehearken.com for details.
As this story continues to develop, consider this your go-to reference menu of best practices for coverage that supports democracy and empowers the electorate. We’ll keep it updated with the latest from our partners, so come back as often as you need.
My newsroom is looking for concrete, actionable info on:
- Political violence, including definitions and coverage guidance
- Anti-polarization framing, with a headline checklist
- Something else: Connect with the team at democracy@wearehearken.com. We’re in contact with dozens of journalism and civic information organizations to provide newsrooms with relevant resources to support their election coverage.
Stay updated with the latest election coverage support opportunities with our newsletter: electionsos.com/newsletter
What is political violence?
What is political violence?
First, some definitions from the organization, More In Common:
Political violence
Violence aimed at political ends — controlling or changing who benefits from, and participates fully, in US political, economic, and socio-cultural life. This definition includes threats, intimidation, and harassment, all of which use the coercive power of violence to shape participation in society.
Electoral violence
A form of political violence, electoral violence is any harm, or threat of harm, to any persons or property involved in the election process, or the election process itself, during the election period.
Reporting on political violence
Media Guide: Covering Political Violence
Protect Democracy has done deep work with partners at Over Zero on this topic, collaborating to create this media guide on covering political violence. Below are a handful of salient tips pulled from their guide that apply to this particular incident:
Headline Writing:
- Avoid assigning collective responsibility by referencing a general group (e.g., “Republicans,” “Democrats,” or “protesters”) and instead accurately attribute actions to the responsible individuals. Be mindful of the risks of directly naming extremist groups or their leaders who may be seeking to use the media as a platform.
- Repeat condemnations of violence and elevate non-violent responses.
In Reporting:
- Provide audiences with links to additional context that can help them better understand the history or impact of the issue or actions covered in the story, as well as opportunities to get involved in nonviolent responses.
- Provide appropriate context and framing about the causes of the violence, including any intersection with extremist political movements and conspiracy theories.
- Engage with targeted communities to ensure coverage also addresses how the violence has affected them, their responses, and their needs.
- Maintain objectivity and avoid sensationalism: Report facts accurately without inflaming tensions or taking sides. Focus on providing context and analysis rather than just dramatic imagery.
- Focus on solutions: Include reporting on efforts to address underlying issues and promote peaceful resolution of conflicts.
- Also cover what’s being done in response:
- What responses were taken to limit or de-escalate violence by law enforcement, civilian leaders, community groups, and by the targeted communities themselves?
- What role have public officials played? Have officials responded with resources or support, heightened risks of violence with rhetoric or legislation, or failed to engage?
- If future events (in this case, rallies) are planned, are there measures in place to minimize the risk of recurrence?
- Are there ways for people to get involved in responding or defusing risks for future violence?
Political violence research & publications
Compiled by the University of California, Davis, this list of studies and research on political violence includes numerous surveys on support for political violence across the U.S.
Election SOS Training: Preparing for Political Violence
While this training was put together in covering the 2020 elections, its lessons still apply today. And while you may not have time to prepare your newsroom for a scenario of political violence now, we recommend bookmarking that part of the training for when you have a chance to come up for air.
Poll: Support for Political Violence in the U.S.
This New York Times article reports on a recent poll surveying Americans’ attitudes toward political violence. The key takeaway is “Small but not insignificant numbers of Americans who support the idea of using violence to advance political ideas.”
Framing & Context
One of the most critical aspects of reporting during this moment is providing appropriate framing and context to the news. Here are some guides from Trusting News on how you can produce journalism that will improve trust with your audiences and serve the electorate’s needs.
Anti-Polarization Checklist
We all know the phrase, “If it bleeds, it leads.” But too often, this has led to sensationalist journalism that has fanned the flames of division and extremism. This checklist from Trusting News has you take a beat before publishing your next story, including examining your adjectives, labels and headlines.
Headline Checklist: How will it land?
Speaking of headlines — we all know that many readers don’t get much further than the headline, which places a lot of responsibility on just a few words. This checklist will have you ensure your headlines prompt curiosity instead of confirmation bias, among other things.
Webinar: Understanding and counteracting polarization
July 18, 2024
Martin Carcasson, the director of the CSU Center for Public Deliberation and partner in the Above the Noise project, will summarize the literature explaining the types, root causes, and impacts of polarization, and review developing tools that can be useful resources for local communities to counteract the polarization and build local civic capacity to prevent toxic polarization moving forward. A Q&A session will follow focused on how local newsrooms can engage the issue and adapt the tools. Register here.
Media worker safety & protection
In the immediate aftermath of the Trump rally shooting, numerous rallygoers turned to reporters in the press pen and shouted, “This is your fault!” Over the past few years, the risk facing political reporters has increased. These guides and trainings will provide you and your newsroom with tips on how to stay safe during increasingly dangerous times.
Webinar: Protecting mental health in the face of online and offline attacks
July 30, 2024
“In an election year where journalists are facing intense pressure, how do we find ways to sustain ourselves from collective burnout? IWMF Next Generation Safety Trainer Rosem Morton will discuss how trauma affects journalists in this webinar on navigating mental health and self-care. The IWMF will also present resources available for journalists, including A Mental Health Guide for Journalists Facing Online Violence released in 2022. This resource was created with the needs of journalists in mind by mental health professionals specialized in working in trauma and the media.”
Journalist Safety: Elections
This journalist safety kit, put together by the Committee to Protect Journalists, has guides on risk assessment, physical safety while covering political rallies and protests, digital safety amid misinformation campaigns and more.
Safety Videos: Covering unrest
This three-part series provides video training on preparing for a demonstration, what to do when demonstrations escalate and what to do if you’re exposed to teargas.
U.S. Election: Safety Summer
How do you protect yourself from online harassment and doxxing? How can you prepare to safely send your reporters out in the field? From PEN America, this six-part webinar series aims to prepare reporters with safety tips as they cover the 2024 election. Videos of past trainings are available on the page, as well as registration for future trainings.
Combating mis- and disinformation
Webinar: Combating Election Misinformation
July 23, 2024
This July 23 training from the Center for Tech and Civic Life and the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence will walk you through ways to counter election misinformation this year.
Tip: How to cover conspiracy theories
The most important aspect of covering conspiracy theories, according to our friends at Trusting News, is to explain your thought process to your audience. Include an editor’s note breaking down your coverage decisions, whether that be framing or language or something else, so that you build more connection and trust with your readers.
Opinion: Claims that the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was staged are baseless
Fact check! In the hours after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, conspiracy theories spread like wildfire on the internet. This article, derived from Poynter’s PolitiFact, breaks down the misinformation and the facts.
Article: Misinformation spreads swiftly in hours after Trump rally shooting
Conspiracy theories are the root of extremism across the political spectrum. From the Washington Post, this article dives into the breadth of conspiracy theories that flooded the internet after the Trump rally shooting, and the shortcomings of internet platforms when it comes to containing that misinformation.
Article: Conspiracy theories spread wildly after the first assassination attempt on a US president in the social media age
From misleading AI-generated images to the dark web, conspiracy theories have been swirling excessively since the Trump rally shooting. So what can the media do about it? This article from CNN does a great job breaking down how the internet has provided ripe feeding grounds for misinformation, but we were particularly struck by this line: “The situation… offers a lesson for mainstream journalists: Don’t just report what we do know, but also report the outstanding unanswered questions so that the public won’t fill in the gaps with junk information.”
Low and slow: Cautiously responding to breaking news
Breaking news plays a crucial role when it comes to containing misinformation — especially because we know the most inaccuracies and incorrect information emerges in the immediate aftermath of a violent event. But news outlets have been praised for how they handled Saturday’s breaking news: slowly and cautiously. Let these media analyses be a reminder that in the midst of the rush to press the publish button, it’s important to take a beat when we don’t know all the answers.
Opinion: In defense of a cautious media
Opinion: TV news coverage of the Trump rally shooting was repetitive — and responsible
Need a resource you didn’t find here? Contact the Election SOS team.
Bridget Thoreson contributed to this report.