Reporting on Political Violence
Top Story: Reporting on Political Violence
With less than a week before the election and concerns about political violence on the rise, we decided to talk to expert Lilliana Mason.
Mason’s 2022 book “Radical American Partisanship,” co-authored with Nathan Kalmoe, looks at how normal Americans become radicalized, what makes people justify violence, and how language influences political violence. Her work surveying more than 100 experts on the issue suggests political violence isn’t going away any time soon—and can’t be ignored.
Check out this important conversation for tips on covering political violence in your community.
Interview with Lilliana Mason
What are the top things you think journalists need to understand as they cover political violence?
I think it's a difficult topic to cover. We don't want to overly alarm anyone, especially when it comes to violence around elections. It's important not to cover violence in a way that could intimidate people from voting, so that’s the first concern.
The second is that we really don't want to glamorize the perpetrators of this violence and make it seem like it's normal.
Also, I think it's important to explain why political violence is used at all. It's not just necessarily violence for self-aggrandizement or lashing out, although many times it is. But political violence is often used with political intent. And usually, that means trying to intimidate groups of people. So, it's important to note who they are trying to intimidate, what happens if they're successful, and why it's important to be courageous in the face of this kind of thing.
It's also important to note places where violence has been successfully pushed back and making it seem possible and feasible for people to get past this moment and to push for a more peaceful democratic process.
What have you learned in your research about how political violence affects democracy?
Often violence is used to intimidate people who the actor doesn't want to have a voice. Do you know the Bridging Divides Initiative? They're out of Princeton. They've been interviewing or randomly surveying local elected officials to assess the extent to which they're experiencing violent threats and harassment.
One thing that they find is that it's disproportionately women and people of color who receive threats. These are people who generally are running local governments or school boards or even local election administrations.
Ultimately, if that type of intimidation succeeds, then we end up with an administrative state that has fewer women and people of color in it. And a lot of times, these threats are using racist and sexist language against the targets.
So that's a good example. What is this intimidation trying to do? Who is it trying to silence? What voices is it trying to remove from our public discourse? And whose interest is that in? In whose interest is it to shut down this particular set of voices.
I think that that's always an important thing to—at the very least—note, that political violence has political goals and to note what those goals are.
A recent poll from Scripps News/ Ipsos found that over 6 in 10 Americans are preparing for violence after the election. How can journalists cover concerns about violence without stoking fear in their communities?
First of all, there certainly won't be that much—6 in 10 Americans are not going to experience political violence after the election. We're almost certain about that. One thing to do is to say that still even when violent events occur, they're still very rare, so putting them in context and making it clear that these events don't happen very often.
Another thing that we know from our work is that when violent events occur, it's possible for the event itself to encourage violence among other people. And that can create a kind of constantly escalating situation where violence creates more violence, which creates more violence, and that can get out of control.
Again, [it’s important to note] the places where violence is being successfully pushed back on and note the voices who are calling for an end to the violence and elevate the voices that are trying to be influential in a more peaceful direction—rather than only elevating the more violent and radical voices.
Are there any stories related to political violence that routinely go unreported?
The threats to state and local officials, I think, are pretty underreported. Another thing that's underreported, partly because people don't want to talk about it, is threats to Republicans who are disloyal or perceived as disloyal to Trump.
That's something that there was a ton of in 2020 during Trump's election rejection attempt and Republicans who certified the election that Biden won—in their states—were living through a really terrifying time.
Often the Republicans in those kind of administrative election positions are disproportionately threatened by Republicans because Republicans expect them to make it so that Trump wins regardless of reality.
And those people they tend to be quiet about it because they don't want to get more threats. They just want to do their jobs most of the time. A lot of the times it intimidates them out of their jobs, but not every time. I know there are a ton of people that are doing their jobs very courageously while receiving violent threats from their fellow partisans.
Resources on Covering Political Violence
Media guides for covering political violence
How to cover political violence without making it worse
Hate and antigovernment groups across the United States
These counties in swing states may try not to certify the election
Six things to know about reporting on threats to poll workers
What election officials say about their experience with threats and harassment
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