Moms 4 Liberty, USA Today, And What Not To Do
Moms 4 Liberty, USA Today, And What Not To Do
Calling out Bad Journalism...Someone has to do it.
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Top Story: Moms 4 Liberty, USA Today, and What Not to Do
We love to celebrate great reporting — like this fabulous 60 Minutes piece on Moms 4 Liberty.
But occasionally at RR, we’ve got to call out bad journalism. And Sunday’s USA Today story on Moms 4 Liberty is just that: An article that fails to coherently and authoritatively explain to readers who Moms 4 Liberty is, who supports and funds Moms 4 Liberty, and why Moms 4 Liberty is so dangerous to our democracy.
Sadly, the story is a great example of what not to do. So, we’re going to be resourceful here at RR and put it to work.
Tips on Covering Moms for Liberty
Don’t Spread Misinformation
Don’t convince yourself that using quotation marks (or qualifiers like “supposedly”) around misleading terms — “liberty-minded,” “freedom,” “critical race theory,” etc. — means you don’t have to do the hard work of clarifying to your readers how and why Moms 4 Liberty uses misinformation as a political tool.
Do Be Informative
Don’t mention “critical race theory,” without defining what “critical race theory” really is.
Don't report what Moms 4 Liberty members claim is being taught in schools without clarifying what is actually being taught in schools.
Don’t quote a lie that a Moms 4 Liberty member says without correcting the lie.
Report Facts
Do report that Moms 4 Liberty has very tight ties to heavily funded right-wing operatives, gets trained by powerful radical right political groups, has its events sponsored by radical right-wing groups, and considers radical right-wing figures allies.
Do report who Moms 4 Liberty is/has been affiliated with. Here are just a few names:
Do report that Moms 4 Liberty members have used violence and threats of violence. Give examples.
Ask for Help
Do ask Reporting Right, or these experts for background info:
Maurice Cunningham, author of “Dark Money and The Politics of School Privatization”
Laura Pappano, author of “School Moms: Parent Activism, Partisan Politics, and the Battle for Public Education”
Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider, authors of “A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door”
Also In The News
We’re Watching
That 60 Minutes on Moms 4 Liberty…because it’s just that good.
Comic Relief
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See You Next Week!
Our Staff
Executive Editor Kyle Spencer
Managing Editor Christen Gall
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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