Journalists at NPR, NYT, etc:

NOW is the time to talk with your editors.

You need to report accurately and fairly, even about harsh truths that one party (I'm thinking of the GOP) won't like.

Fight now. It will all come too fast to fight later.

1/

- Establish now which facts would lead you to report on accusations of voter fraud. They need to be very credible, backed by clear data and statistical significance.

- Establish now which election law experts and principles are quotable.

2/

You are going to have to make a lot of calls about what statements are amplified, what "facts" are reported.

If you make them in the heat of the moment, you'll end up defaulting to deference to position (the Secretary of State of TK state said...),

3/

Or the weak context, "while many experts disagree, TK said there is massive voter fraud..."

Or straightforward both-sides. "Democrats accused Republicans in TK state of falsifying a crisis. This Republican said it's the Dems who are at fault."

4/

It will be so hard to go against institutional muscle memory in the heat of the moment.

You should discuss, now, in the semi-quiet before the storm, what will guide those decisions.

5/

My suggestion:

Never amplify accusations without an extremely high bar of evidence and credence. There will NOT be massive voter fraud. Don't report when someone says there is.

Don't quote Republicans making false accusations.

6/

If there is evidence that someone is lying, just report that they are lying. Don't use "Democrats say..."

No article, no paragraph, no sentence, should be anything other than crystal clear about the integrity of our election system.

7/

I already hear the reporters saying: but what if there IS massive fraud?

OK. If there is, there will be a lot of evidence and serious non-partisan people agreeing. That is a high bar. Keep that bar high!

(They're going to fuck it up so badly. Oy.)

8/end