Journalists got an Election Day mandate, too!
Top Story: It’s the economy, stupid.
Dear Journalist,
If the culture wars have exhausted you, rest assured. You are not alone.
On Tuesday, millions of Americans headed to the polls to shout from the rafters (figuratively) that they too were sick of all the distractions.
To candidates who harped on “woke,” they had a collective response: “No thanks.”
Instead, Americans from New York to Trenton to Jackson to Richmond asked for something else: a focus on housing and groceries, the cost of college, and more reasonably priced healthcare.
That’s what we went to journalism school to report on. So, let it begin with us.
Reporting Post Nov 4
Some pols will definitely want to keep you on the “woke” stuff. Don’t be distracted. They got a mandate. And, so did you. Americans want your reporting to focus on the economy.
What Now?
Americans expect those who ran on the economy to deliver. Ask a lot of questions. Start with: When? What? How?
It’s not what I say. It’s what I do.
Everyone makes promises. Elected officials make a lot of them. Shortly after the election, many from around the country who have not focused on the economy, promised to change. Make sure you hold them accountable, too. If that’s what they now care about, make sure they are showing, not just telling.
Circle back.
Stay persistent, particularly around folks who have voted or acted, in the past, against the economic livelihood of their constituents. Have they really changed? Don’t be naive. Get receipts. Report on inconsistencies. Voters were laser-focused on their well-being. You should be, too.
Got solutions?
Be proactive. Check out The Solutions Journalism Network, which has lots of great solutions to hard problems that municipalities have tried to fix. Report on successful efforts. Start a conversation. And encourage the folks in your community to dream big about what government can do for them.
Also in the news
Here’s some thoughts on what it all means
The Mamdani effect: or NY gets all the attention
Wait, what…they’re not leaving?
How much anti-semitism is too much anti-semitism?
We’re Reading
The Unwinding — An Inner History of the New America
by George Packer
Comic Relief
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See You Next Week!
Our Staff
Executive Editor Kyle Spencer
Our Board of Advisors
Alex Aronson, executive director of Court Accountability
David Armiak, research director for the Center for Media and Democracy
Connor Gibson, founder of Grassrootbeer Investigations
Maurice Cunningham, retired associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and author of Dark Money and The Politics of School Privatization.
Isaac Kamola, associate professor of political science at Trinity College, founder of Faculty First Responders and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War
Nancy MacLean, William H. Chafe distinguished professor of history and public policy at Duke University and author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America
Ralph Wilson, founder of the Corporate Genome Project and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War
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