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10 ways for political media to fix their failures

Here’s a special expanded edition of Media Misses after a campaign full of missteps

Steven Beschloss Oct 31

In a special pre-Election Day edition of Media Misses, Mark Jacob and I discuss 10 ways for journalists to repair their failures in political coverage. (We also briefly explore the failure of the billionaire owners of the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times to publish an endorsement.) Here’s hoping this can be a part of the journalistic reckoning post-election, assuming our free press survives.

1. Stop platforming proven liars.

2. Don’t be a stenographer.

3. Stop obsessing about polls. 

4. Describe the stakes of things.

5. Stop being distracted by trivia.

6. Speak truth to power.

7. Do instant fact-checks using video.

8. Don’t assume impartiality is the highest value.

9. Write clear, direct headlines—stop vague-posting 

10. In a democracy, the press has a responsibility to sustain it.

Mark Jacob, a former editor at the Chicago Tribune, is the author of the excellent “Stop the Presses” newsletter. Check it out if you haven’t already.

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