The 2022 campaign presented the political press corps with an unprecedented challenge — how to cover candidates who deny the validity of elections. Repeating the unfounded claims that Joe Biden was not legitimately elected in 2020 is a political stance far different than, say, advocating for lower taxes or wanting to restrict abortion rights. Election deniers challenge the very premise of democracy, while candidate debates over government spending and social issues represent the essence of what democracy is all about. As such, media coverage of election denial candidates should appropriately reflect just how antithetical their views are to the normal political process.
In the end, the 2022 elections proved unkind to election deniers as voters rejected most of the prominent proponents of these false charges. But for the mainstream media, the issues raised by candidates decrying a “stolen election” did not end on November 8. The validity of the 2020 presidential race will likely continue to be questioned in future election campaigns. Moreover, other analogous antidemocratic challenges may also emerge in 2024 and beyond. It is not hard to imagine the rise of 2024 candidates who echo Donald Trump in talking about suspending parts of the Constitution or even discussing the merits of a military coup. So it remains relevant to question what standards political reporters should employ in chronicling the campaigns of candidates who undermine American democracy itself.
Looking at...
For the past several months, a coordinated digital campaign has targeted community archivists in Bangladesh who document and preserve audiovisual material related to the July 2024 Student-People’s...