EVENT: The Media and Democracy Project Conversation and Q&A with Margaret Sullivan
Ms. Sullivan is an authoritative voice encouraging journalists to defend democracy.
On January 24, 2024 the Media and Democracy Project (MAD) was honored to host a conversation and Q&A with legendary journalist Margaret Sullivan. The event “Journalism can help save democracy. An exploration and an action plan!” was engaging and well-received, with over 100 people attending.
Ms. Sullivan is a media and democracy hero. A strident voice in the media space, she urges others in her profession to push for, and deliver, pro-democracy media. In her insightful book Newsroom Confidential, as well as pieces for The Guardian and her Substack “American Crisis,” Ms. Sullivan advocates for a journalism that supports democracy and offers solutions to America’s compounding information and democracy crises.
In Ms. Sullivan’s opening remarks, she told the audience that “journalism cannot save democracy all by itself, but it is necessary for it to function.” She added: “A reasonably well-funded…trustworthy news media is necessary if we are going to self-govern in the country.” Importantly, she outlined actions everyone can take to effect positive change and discussed with the MAD hosts how to make a pro-democracy media “action plan.” What follows is a summary of several recommendations discussed during the event.
Problem #1
Major news organizations are too focused on “horse race coverage,” not enough on consequences of voter decisions.
Ms. Sullivan: “There are a number of things that worry me the most. One is the Big Media, like CNN, The New York Times, and the Washington Post, when they’re covering politics they get hung up on the horse race coverage, much more than the consequences of the race. Jay Rosen uttered a very memorable and elegant way to think about this, ‘The media should focus, not on the odds, but the stakes.’”
MAD Recommended Action: Be an engaged consumer of news by diplomatically interacting with journalists and editors. Reach out and thank reporters when you see good coverage. Or, when you see and hear coverage that is not pro-democracy, that fails to provide contextualized information about dangers and consequences, write to editors, producers and publishers to politely demand better. Tell them you want news that goes beyond the mindless quoting of “both sides.” Tell them you want news that informs you about who is seeking solutions to our nation’s problems and who is seeking to undermine those solutions. Ask for better than horse race coverage that treats politics like a sport instead of as something that deeply impacts our health and well-being.
Problem #2
Journalism’s collapse has decimated the local news sources Americans trust most, increasing reliance on Big Media.
MAD Recommended Action: Subscribe or donate to a local news outlet. Use MAD’s searchable, nationwide local journalism directory to find a news source worth supporting. Go beyond and gift local news subscriptions to friends and family, improving the media diet of your community. Bonus: Donate to solutions-focused organizations like Rebuild Local News.
Problem #3
Media organizations that are designed to misinform and disinform
MAD Recommended Action: Fight back against disinformation outlets like Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News propaganda network. Fox “News” is not a news organization, but a hyper-partisan, radicalizing, infotainment ecosystem. Fox has been found by a judge in the Dominion lawsuit to have knowingly lied to the American public about the 2020 election. MAD asks everyone concerned about Fox’s harms to sign a public letter in support of our effort to hold Fox accountable. We are seeking an FCC hearing to determine whether Fox and Rupert / Lachlan Murdoch are fit to remain broadcast licensees of local TV stations. Sign here: https://www.mediaanddemocracyproject.org/sign-on-letter
The Media and Democracy Project community is grateful for the work of Ms. Sullivan. We are energized by her visit and look forward to working on some of the suggested solutions and feedback she provided. She closed out the conversation with these words: “You are doing the right things. Just want to tell you that it’s important to keep it up. If we are going to continue to have a democracy in the United States, grassroots organizations and individuals who really care and groups that get together and act will be the reason.”
For additional insights and actions the Media and Democracy Project recommends you:
Read Ms. Sullivan’s book Newsroom Confidential: Lessons (and worries) from an ink-stained life which contains additional recommendations to improve American media based on decades of experience.
Subscribe to her Substack “American Crisis”
Read and amplify her work at The Guardian:
Review the slides from the event for more information about pro-democracy media, other MAD heroes, resources and actions.
MAD has recently asked the Publisher of the New York Times to reinstitute a Public Editor. Let the NYTimes know you support this effort: https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015385887-Contact-Us
For feedback / inquiries contact us at info@MediaAndDemocracyProject.Org