Friend,

Tonight's the next presidential debate and the stakes couldn't be higher. We need the media to learn from their catastrophic mistakes in 2016 and cover this election with the hard-hitting analysis and reliable information people need.

Sign our petition urging the news networks to provide the #NewsWeDeserve this election season.

Thanks!

Lucia

We’re worried news networks might not have learned anything from 2016. Help us hold them accountable: Sign the petition calling on networks to clean up their election coverage and provide the #NewsWeDeserve.

Friend,

Last week was the start of impeachment proceedings, which dominated the news for the week. And yet some reporters didn’t find the proceedings exciting enough and decided to mention that in their “hard-hitting analysis” of the hearings. Below is a real tweet from NBC News:¹

NBC’s disturbing tweet suggests that people watch the news purely for entertainment instead of real reporting and accurate information about what’s going on in the world. Tell NBC and other major news networks that we need them to do better: Sign the petition demanding the #NewsWeDeserve this election season.

We know that sometimes it feels like we’re all living in a bad reality-TV show, but we deserve reporting that doesn’t fall into the same traps as the E! Network — only broadcasting what’s outlandish, exciting or whatever the ratings say that people want to see.

It’s unacceptable for news networks or journalists to treat what they cover as a popularity contest based on what’s most dramatic or flashy. The news may sometimes lack “pizzazz” but that doesn’t make it any less important or necessary. And with another presidential debate happening this week, we really need news networks and journalists to do better.

Sign the petition calling on news networks to learn from their mistakes in 2016: It’s time to provide the #NewsWeDeserve.

If we have any shot at getting through the 2020 election cycle with better information about the candidates, their positions and the issues, that change has to start now.

Thanks for all that you do,

Lucia, Candace, Collette and the Free Press Action team
freepress.net

P.S. News outlets shape society. Let’s challenge those in power to be more responsible in how they use it. Tell news networks and journalists to provide the #NewsWeDeserve and commit to upending media racism, bias and misinformation as we approach this critical election.

1. NBC News via Twitter, Nov. 13, 2019