In 2023, I predict that a backlash is coming — we will be increasingly likely to hear that pro-democracy reporting is biased, dangerous, and un-American.
Some of the backlash will come from folks favoring a more traditional journalism model, arguing that journalists cede objectivity, fairness, and balance when they approach reporting from a pro-democracy perspective.
Some of the backlash will come from far-right sources who argue that pro-democracy is just a fancy way of saying pro-Democrat.
Both of these perspectives will continue to miss a fundamental truth: Democracy cannot thrive or survive without a media ecosystem willing to report verifiable truths about the core tenets of democracy — even if those truths currently favor one major political party over another.
It is not that it should not be impermissible to take a side — it is that the taking of a side needs to be transparently and robustly hewed to the verifiable truth and that pro-democracy reporting aggressively pursues anti-democracy behaviors from all who conduct them.
Democracies depend upon providing citizens accurate information to make reasoned choices and to vote out leaders who repeatedly tell us things that are plainly not true. Without a robust defense of democracy-oriented reporting from experts and journalists alike, the recent improvements society has benefitted from in election journalism are in danger of disappearing.