Reuters publicly published a how-to guide, "Covering Trump the Reuters Way," as a way to encourage its journalists to try something new and different: less bias.
Editor-in-Chief Steve Adler said Reuters needs to stand out from “some news operations” who oppose the new administration, appease it, boycott its briefings, or are trying to garner support for the mainstream media being in the crosshairs of the new president. But first, he needed to get out some frustration in the first paragraph:
The first 12 days of the Trump presidency (yes, that’s all it’s been!) have been memorable for all – and especially challenging for us in the news business. It’s not every day that a U.S. president calls journalists “among the most dishonest human beings on earth” or that his chief strategist dubs the media “the opposition party.” It’s hardly surprising that the air is thick with questions and theories about how to cover the new Administration.
Adler then defended Reuters’ reputation as “a global news organization that reports independently and fairly in more than 100 countries, including many in which the media is unwelcome and frequently under attack.” He admonished his employees to carry on that tradition “by recommitting ourselves to reporting fairly and honestly, by doggedly gathering hard-to-get information – and by remaining impartial.”
Again, Adler warned that might be a lot harder under President Trump as the “administration’s attacks” are new territory for the national media. So he listed some do’s, one of which included getting out among the citizens in America and view the world through their eyes instead of from the view inside the Washington bubble:
Get out into the country and learn more about how people live, what they think, what helps and hurts them, and how the government and its actions appear to them, not to us.
Sage advice if only a bit too late. The media was flabbergasted by Trump’s win — something they couldn’t imagine was possible. That’s how far removed the media has become from everyday Americans who are sick of the bias forced on them during the nightly news. So, here’s hoping some in the media are making at least a small attempt to do better and bridge the divide.
Here are the don’ts:
Never be intimidated, but:
Don’t pick unnecessary fights or make the story about us. We may care about the inside baseball but the public generally doesn’t and might not be on our side even if it did.
Don’t vent publicly about what might be understandable day-to-day frustration. In countless other countries, we keep our own counsel so we can do our reporting without being suspected of personal animus. We need to do that in the U.S., too.
Don’t take too dark a view of the reporting environment: It’s an opportunity for us to practice the skills we’ve learned in much tougher places around the world and to lead by example – and therefore to provide the freshest, most useful, and most illuminating information and insight of any news organization anywhere.
It’s clear the mainstream media is still dizzy from the punch in the nose that was the 2016 election. It seems as though Reuters is way too flustered for a 165-year-old organization that has surely seen its share of tough times. Perhaps if they had only reported the facts in an unbiased way all this time, it'd be easier to work in Trump's America.
However, that does appear to be the stated goal from here on out: “We make a difference in the world because we practice professional journalism that is both intrepid and unbiased.”
All eyes are on you, Reuters. Go “do the best work and the most good.”
