Best Practices for Supporting Elections & Democracy Reporting
In a session from the 2023 Journalism Funders Gathering, Angelica Das, Director of Equitable Journalism at Democracy Fund, shares best practices for supporting elections and democracy reporting.
Drawing on data from a community listening project with Democracy Fund grantees, Das outlines concrete ways funders can shift their approach to strengthening journalism that serve as a vital counterweight to authoritarianism. Here are the key takeaways:
The Problem
- Many people don’t have the information they need to vote and participate in democracy
- Political money has overwhelming influence
- National news narratives overshadow local media
- Disinformation fills the vacuum of the loss of locals news
- Authoritarian actors have been patiently building media channels for decades
These aren’t just election-cycle problems, but fundamental challenges of democracy reporting. Addressing journalism’s needs in moments of crisis requires thinking systemically about how to support its democratic function overall.
The Roadblocks
The path to producing actionable civic news and information is riddled with roadblocks—and the threats and challenges along the way continue to grow exponentially.
- Security: Journalists are actively experiencing digital, physical and legal threats that require scenario planning and emergency response. This marks a shift in the U.S. journalism system toward conditions more commonly seen in other countries.
- Burnout: The surge of election coverage exhausts reporters and pushes already-strained newsrooms further underwater.
- Disinformation in Communities of Color: People of color are deliberately targeted in disinformation campaigns, and threats to journalists covering elections and democracy invariably hit hardest in traditionally marginalized communities.
- Political Money’s Overwhelming Influence: Political money disproportionately flows to commercial media at the expense of local outlets and creates powerful incentives for sensationalized, polarizing content that pushes audiences away from consuming the news.
The Result
An enormous amount of what’s needed in elections and democracy reporting isn’t visible.
Where Philanthropy is Failing
Money that arrives right before a general election is too late to meaningfully impact that election’s coverage. Elections begin the day the first primary ballot goes out—months before Election Day. And if funding only flows during presidential election years, it supports just a fraction of what’s needed. Election reporting demands year-round capacity.
What Philanthropy Can Do
5 Ways to Shift Funding Practices Today
- Make grants as early as possible
- Extend the grant period
- Offer networks instead of cohorts
- Make reporting requirements flexible
- Give general operating funds to newsrooms
In the Short Term: Make Smart Investments Into Existing Options
- BIPOC-led and serving news organizations
- Collaborative journalism
- Rapid response services and funds
- Voter information and accountability
In the Short Term: Philanthropy Can Help Build
- Emergency response to physical and digital threats
- Distribution and promotion for local and community news
- Multilingual news and information
Long-Term Commitment is Essential
Elections and democracy reporting needs sustained support from philanthropy. Grantees have a clear vision of what’s possible if we’re able to shift our strategies to think holistically about what needs to change. We need civic news and information, and we need pro-democracy journalism that explicitly upholds our democracy system.
Source: Democracy Fund