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title: "Election SOS: Getting Newsroom Buy-in"
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How to get engagement buy-in from your newsroom, resources for local newsrooms covering extremism and more.

| View in browser We help journalists cover elections & their aftermath. The Election SOS newsletter is a dedicated resource for journalists covering the elections. We provide critical resources to help with your coverage, safety and service.  How to get engagement buy-in from your newsroom You’ve seen this editor.   Leaning back, arms crossed, chin tucked down as you make your case to try engagement journalism for your next story or project. The frown. The head shake.    This is going to be a tough sell.   But it doesn’t have to be.   The roadblock of getting the larger newsroom support was a recurring theme we found with the 134 journalists from 63 newsrooms who participated in the Election SOS Engaged Elections training last year. We found that the secret to getting a yes is to use the same approach as you do when reporting a story. Here are three steps for getting your newsroom on board:  Get curious: If you don’t know why they might want to try out engagement, it’s time to simply ask. Uncovering people’s motivators is one of those skills journalists have honed their entire careers — there’s no reason you can’t put those skills to use in your own newsroom. Get curious about what people are working on, what they need and what they’re struggling with. Make your pitch: You wouldn’t go to your editor with a story pitch without being ready to say why it needs to be reported, so put the same prep into your proposal for engagement work. Be ready to answer questions by understanding what you want to accomplish and why it matters. Build your beat: Engagement is not a product or a project, but a process. Just like a beat is not built in a day, building a meaningful relationship with your audience takes time. We call it the “pizza stone of engagement” — every time you make something, you add a little more flavor and, over time, create more unique and delicious offerings. READ NOW Election SOS Report and Summit Our team is listening to your feedback and building out lessons and recommendations for newsrooms based on last year's elections. We are now conducting interviews with 20+ of our Election SOS training participants to learn from their experiences pursuing engagement and trust-building elections coverage. We will be sharing out a complete report on how these newsrooms designed their coverage from start to finish, and what they plan next, based on these interviews.    Sign up here to: Get early access to the Election SOS complete report on lessons learned on engagement and trust from the 2020 elections. Be notified about our Election SOS Summit with newsroom leaders coming up in early April. SIGN UP FOR ACCESS National Media Are Platforming Domestic Extremists, Leaving Local Journalists to Deal with the Fall Out. Here’s How We Can Do Better - 100 Days in Appalachia Local reporters need to be focused on covering far right extremism and extremist activity more than ever. Because of limited time and lack of resources available to  overextended local and regional reporters, 100 Days in Appalachia compiled insights and suggestions to assist local newsrooms on the front lines of community political violence and extremist activity. Read on for tips for covering extremism, including: Foster newsroom wide conversations and consensus about how political violence and extremist activity will be covered Understand the Media Manipulation Life Cycle; Report of actions over words Ensure that those victimized by extremist violence and harassment are the primary focus of your reporting Hold law enforcement and local politicians accountable in your reporting Avoid false equivalency READ ON Trusted Elections Expert We have 270+ experts on civil unrest, election security,  journalists' safety, and more. You can follow our Twitter list of Elections Experts here. CONNECT NOW Reporting resources: A guide to the identities and language of the far right - Poynter  What’s the difference between boogaloo bois and Proud Boys? White nationalism and white supremacy? When is something ‘fascist?’ Journalists need to understand the differences between white nationalism and western chauvinism, so Poynter offers short and contextualized descriptions for all those terms.    Let’s find out what conservatives really think about local news (not “the media”) - Trusting News We know there’s a partisan divide related to trust in news: people who lean right are much less likely to trust what journalists produce. That's why Trusting News is inviting journalists from local newsrooms to interview right-leaning individuals in their own communities about their perceptions of journalism. They are working with the Center for Media Engagement to develop the materials and analyze the results. Complete this form to participate in this project. What we’re reading: Standout solutions journalism of 2020 - Solutions Journalism Network  In a year of worsts, Solutions Journalism Network is celebrating reporting on responses to the last year’s biggest challenges. They looked at 2,800 stories to narrow it down to provide top examples of inventive and solutions-oriented journalism work to inspire others. See some of the top stories on COVID-19, racial justice and democracy.   Disabled people who had trouble voting falls dramatically: report - The Hill  Difficulties with access to voting reported by disabled Americans fell significantly between 2012 and 2020, according to research published Wednesday by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The EAC report found about 1 in 9 disabled respondents reported voting difficulties in 2020, compared to more than a quarter of non-disabled Americans.   Voting Rights in Spotlight as Supreme Court Considers Arizona Election Rules - WSJ The Supreme Court this week hears an Arizona case with broad ramifications for the future of the Voting Rights Act, the first in a pipeline of high-stakes litigation following the legal frenzy that marked the 2020 election season. Two Arizona provisions are at issue: a longstanding rule disallowing votes cast in the wrong precinct, and a measure passed by the legislature in 2016 that prohibits get-out-the-vote operatives from collecting and delivering vote-by-mail ballots. Election Relief The eight people you meet on Slack. Which one are you?   What type of training of information do you want Election SOS to cover? Hit up our suggestion box here.  Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe Here Hearken, 233 N Michigan Ave, Suite 1800, Chicago, Illinois 60601, United States Unsubscribe Manage preferences |
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